Dynamic Oligopoly with Incomplete Information

S-Tier
Journal: Review of Economic Studies
Year: 2017
Volume: 84
Issue: 2
Pages: 503-546

Authors (3)

Alessandro Bonatti (Massachusetts Institute of Tec...) Gonzalo Cisternas (not in RePEc) Juuso Toikka (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We consider learning and signalling in a dynamic Cournot oligopoly where firms have private information about their production costs and only observe the market price, which is subject to unobservable demand shocks. An equilibrium is Markov if play depends on the history only through the firms’ beliefs about costs and calendar time. We characterize symmetric linear Markov equilibria as solutions to a boundary value problem. In every such equilibrium, given a long enough horizon, play converges to the static complete information outcome for the realized costs, but each firm only learns its competitors’ average cost. The weights assigned to costs and beliefs under the equilibrium strategies are non-monotone over time. We explain this by decomposing incentives into signalling and learning, and discuss implications for prices, quantities, and welfare.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:restud:v:84:y:2017:i:2:p:503-546.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24