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Cournot games with biconcave demand

Author

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  • Christian Ewerhart
Abstract
Biconcavity is a simple condition on inverse demand that corresponds to the ordinary concept of concavity after simultaneous parameterized transformations of price and quantity. The notion is employed here in the framework of the homogeneous-good Cournot model with potentially heterogeneous firms. The analysis leads to unified conditions, respectively, for the existence of a pure-strategy equilibrium via nonincreasing best-response selections, for existence via quasiconcavity, and for uniqueness of the equilibrium. The usefulness of the generalizations is illustrated in cases where inverse demand is either "nearly linear" or isoelastic. It is also shown that commonly made assumptions regarding large outputs are often redundant.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Ewerhart, 2011. "Cournot games with biconcave demand," ECON - Working Papers 016, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Jan 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cournot games; existence and uniqueness of a pure-strategy Nash equilibrium; generalized concavity; supermodularity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium

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