On the existence of positive equilibrium profits in competitive screening markets
File(s)comp_profits_JL_200720.pdf (333.3 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Levy, Yehuda John
Veiga, Andre
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Frictionless consumer choices and price competition are often associated with competitive markets and vanishing equilibrium profits. We discuss vanishing profits in competitive screening markets like insurance. We assume symmetric firms which exhibit constant returns to scale. Consumer heterogeneity creates the possibility of adverse selection. Firms can offer multiple contracts in equilibrium and (importantly) in any deviation. Nash equilibrium profits vanish if each consumer has a unique optimizing bundle at equilibrium prices or, more generally, if there exists a linear ordering of contracts that dictates the preferences of firms whenever consumers are indifferent between multiple optimal contracts. Of particular interest, equilibrium profits vanish if, for each agent, indifference curves are steeper than iso-profit curves. The results extend to Miyazaki-Wilson-Spence equilibria. We provide examples of economies where there exists an equilibrium with strictly positive profit and show that these examples are robust (hold for an open set of economies).
Date Issued
2020-11-01
Date Acceptance
2020-08-01
Citation
Games and Economic Behavior, 2020, 124, pp.140-168
ISSN
0899-8256
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
140
End Page
168
Journal / Book Title
Games and Economic Behavior
Volume
124
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825620301093?via%3Dihub
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-08-20