Mini-Course on Oligopoly Theory
By Nir Dagan

Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, February 23-24, 2009.

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Outline

1
Monopoly
1.1
Simple single product monopoly
1.2
Price discrimination
1.2.1
Third degree price discrimination: when it is possible to identify consumers, and consumers cannot resell.
1.2.2
Discrimination via quality choice and self selection. Consumers are not identified, and resale is possible.
2
Bertrand Oligopoly: Nash equilibrium in price competition with a single commodity
3
Tacit collusion: Infinitely repeated price competition and the falk theorem for subgame perfect equilibria.
4
Product differentiation
4.1
Exogenous substitute products, best response curves and Nash equilibrium.
4.2
Spatial competition: the linear city
4.2.1
Newspaper stands: location choice when prices are fixed, and the principle of minimum differentiation.
4.2.2
Two stage competition: first location, then prices, and the principle of maximum differentiation.

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