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Demand Shifts And Market Structure In Free-Entry Oligopoly Equilibria, Stephen F. Hamilton

Economics

This papers examines the structural implications of demand shifts in free-entry oligopoly equilibria. The model generalizes the conjectural variations framework to consider asymmetric firm conjectures, allows for the possibility of cost differences across firms, and endogenizes conditions of entry and exit in the industry. In non-competitive environments, changes in incumbent output and industry profitability are inversely-related to changes in the equilibrium price following a demand shift. In response to rotations of demand through the equilibrium point, changes in profitability are positively-related to changes in industry concentration and, when marginal costs are non-decreasing, inversely-related to changes in market power.