Gary Biglaiser

Middlemen as experts

I show that a middleman can be welfare improving in all equilibria in a quite general bargaining model when adverse selection is present. Conditions are determined for when a middleman is most likely to be in a market. Examples of the theory are also presented.

Middlemen as guarantors of quality

Abstract We analyze an experience good model with producer moral hazard which is based on Shapiro ( Quarterly Journal of Economics , 1983, 98, 659–679). We develop conditions under which a good will be sold through a middleman instead of being sold directly by the producer when selling costs may even be increased by the presence of middlemen. Middlemen help to alleviate the producer moral hazard problem by dropping a producers good, and lowering her future sales, if the good is not of its claimed quality. The middleman engages in this policing activity in order to maintain his own reputation as a seller of high quality goods.

Dynamics of price regulation

We study the dynamics of price regulation for an industry adjusting to exogenous technological progress. First, we characterize the optimal capacity path and replacement cycles in a neoclassical investment model. Second, we show that naive rate-of-return regulation, which ignores components of economic depreciation, eventually results in a deficient level of capacity due to excessively high retail prices burdened by the need to recover the underdepreciated costs of historical investments. Third, we explain how price-cap regulation leads to more efficient capital replacement decisions compared to naive rate-of-return regulation, and we show how finite price-cap horizons distort capital replacement decisions compared to optimal regulation. Finally, we interpret recent regulatory reforms in telecommunications markets.

Dynamic Pollution Regulation

This paper examines pollution regulation in a dynamic setting with complete information. We show that tradeable pollution permits may not achieve the social optimum even when the permit market is perfectly competitive. The reason is that the optimal tradeable permits regulation will typically be time inconsistent. We then show that pollution taxes can achieve the first best and are time consistent.

Downstream integration by a bottleneck input supplier whose regulated wholesale prices are above costs

We examine the consequences of allowing a bottleneck input supplier to vertically integrate downstream and compete with users of the input when the input has a regulated price above cost. If the supplier maximizes the sum of short-run profits from the downstream market and input market, then allowing the vertical integration will increase social surplus, even if it causes sellers of competing differentiated products to exit the market. If the bottleneck supplier wishes to engage in predatory pricing, increasing the regulated price of the input above cost reduces the incentive to engage in predation. These questions are motivated primarily by assertions made in the public record that allowing Bell Operating Companies into long distance can be harmful if access rates are above cost. Copyright 2001 by the RAND Corporation.

Price and Quality Competition under Adverse Selection: Market Organization and Efficiency

Firms compete with prices and qualities in markets where consumers have heterogeneous preferences and cost characteristics. Consumers demand two goods, which can be supplied jointly or separately by firms. We consider two strategy regimes for firms: uniform price-quality pairs, and screening price-quality menus. For each regime, we compare the equilibria under integration (each firm supplying both goods) and separation (each firm supplying one good). Integrating and separating markets change quality, efficiency, and welfare. The theory illustrates phenomena such as the carveout of mental health and substance abuse coverage from general health insurance, and creaming for low-cost students in locales with school choices. Copyright 2003 by the RAND Corporation.

Regulating a Dominant Firm: Unknown Demand and Industry Structure

In this article, we study the optimal regulation of a dominant firm when an unregulated firm actively competes. Generally, the existence of an active rival imposes new and binding constraints on regulatory problems. We characterize optimal policies both when demands are known (complete information) and unknown (incomplete information) to the regulator. Optimal policies under complete information may set the price at the dominant firm above or below its marginal cost. Optimal policies under incomplete information may be either pooling or separating, constant over a range of the prior distribution of the firms private information, and leave no information rent to the firm.

The value of switching costs

We study a dynamic model with an incumbent monopolist and entry in every subsequent period. We first show that if all consumers have the same switching cost, then the intertemporal profits of the incumbent are the same as if there was only one period. We then study the consequences of heterogeneity of switching costs. We prove that even low switching cost customers have value for the incumbent: when there are more of them its profits increase as their presence hinders entrants who find it more costly to attract high switching cost customers.

Dynamic Price Competition with Capacity Constraints and a Strategic Buyer

We analyze a simple dynamic durable good model. Two incumbent sellers and potential entrants choose their capacities at the start of the game. We solve for equilibrium capacity choices and the (necessarily mixed) pricing strategies. In equilibrium, the buyer splits the order with positive probability to preserve competition, making it possible that a high and low price seller both have sales. Sellers command a rent above the value of unmet demand by the other seller. A buyer benefits from either a commitment not to make future purchases or by hiring an agent to always buy from the lowest priced seller.

Incentive Auctions and Information Revelation

We study an incentive auction in which multiple principals bid for the exclusive services, or effort, of a single agent. Each principal has private information about her valuation for these services, and the agent has private information about his disutility of providing them. We characterize the equilibrium of this auction and examine the agents incentives to reveal information about his type. We show that the effort level taken by the agent is smaller than in the standard auction for a known agent type and greater than in the single-principal, single-agent model. Additionally, inexperienced analysts are less likely to issue timely forecasts, and they revise their forecasts more frequently. These findings are broadly consistent with existing career concern motivated herding theories.