Search results for "Marginal cost"
showing 7 items of 27 documents
Beyond Viner: Smoothed Cost Curves and Co-Detetermination of Output and Production Capacity
2017
We address two problems of traditional cost functions: the discontinuity caused by the production capacity (the marginal cost abruptly becomes infinite when production capacity is reached) and the production capacity is artificially exogenous. So, we introduce a smoothed form of marginal cost function. It progressively tends to infinity when it approaches to the production capacity. Then, we prove that it is perfectly possible to determine directly output, fixed costs and production capacity simultaneously, even if this could lead to a system of equations that is not so elementary to solve because it includes a Lambert function. We also show that the smoothed cost function prevails in both …
A Closer Look at the Comparative Statics in Competitive Markets
2005
In this paper we revisit the dual approach to comparative statics in competitive markets, allowing for the essential results to arise from a comprehensive and unified framework. We study, for both the long-run and the short-run, the response of all the endogenous variables to price factor changes in a way that captures the outputprice effects arising from market-firm interactions. We show that it is necessary a richer characterization of the nature of factors with respect to output, connected with marginal cost and output demand elasticities, for completely determining such responses.
Adjustment costs, uncertainty, and the theory of investment: the case of non-renewable natural resources
1992
Abstract This paper examines the effects of mineral price and extraction cost uncertainty on the investment program of a competitive resource-extracting industry that faces convex costs of adjustment. The results show that depletion of mineral reserves will slow down if the marginal adjustment cost function is concave or linear, whereas the effect will be ambiguous if the function is convex.
Revisiting the Mathematical Difficulties in Patinkin Cartel Model and Joint Profit Maximization
2015
We discuss the mathematical difficulties encountered in Patinkin's classical cartel model. It may be impossible to derive Patinkin's cartel by finding the reciprocal marginal cost functions: it could be impossible for cartel members to compute a solution, unless certain assumptions are made to simplify the problem, such as quasi-linear marginal costs or constant marginal costs. The total cost function is incoherent with respect to the sum of members' total cost. The model cannot handle constant marginal costs but we remind that de Mesnard's (2009, 2011) model of cartel with exogenous market shares allow solving the problem. We conclude that the Patinkin model of cartel is not so self-eviden…
Stackelberg Equilibrium with Many Leaders and Followers. The Case of Setup Costs
2016
I provide conditions that guarantee that a Stackelberg game with a setup cost and an integer number of leaders and followers has an equilibrium in pure strategies. The main feature of the game is that when the marginal follower leaves the market the price jumps up, so that a leader’s payoff is neither continuous nor quasiconcave. To show existence I check that a leader’s value function satisfies the following single crossing condition: When the other leaders produce more the leader never accommodates entry of more followers. If demand is strictly logconcave, and if marginal costs are both non decreasing and not flatter than average costs, then a Stackelberg equilibrium exists. Besides showi…
Emission Taxes, Feed-in Subsidies and the Investment in a Clean Technology by a Polluting Monopoly
2019
The paper studies the use of emission taxes and feed-in subsidies for the regulation of a monopoly that can produce the same good with a technology that employs a polluting input and a clean technology. The second-best tax and subsidy are calculated solving a two-stage policy game between the regulator and the monopoly with the regulator acting as the leader of the game. We find that the second-best tax rate is the Pigouvian tax. The tax implements the efficient level of the dirty output but does not affect the total output. On the other hand, the subsidy leads to the monopoly to reduce the dirty output but also to increase the total output. This increase in total output may yield a larger …
A new decision model for economic evaluation of novel therapies for HCV
2014
In 2014, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has given the license to two new direct-acting antiviral: sofosbuvir and simeprevir. The evidence provided by the studies, reported a high rate of SVR even in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. This and other innovative elements are potentially adept at changing the entire natural course of HCV. However, the dramatic prevalence rates of HCV observed in Italy, and the high prices that are expected to be required by the pharmaceutical industry, raises some critical issues about how to regulate access to such drugs. The objective of this article is to present a new decision model for the evaluation of novel therapies for HCV. This model is inten…