Estimating Market Power and Strategies

This book presents, compares, and develops various techniques for estimating market power - the ability to set price profitably above marginal cost.

The book shows economists how to estimate the ability of firms to raise their prices above their costs and how to estimate firms' strategies. It is designed for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners. It can be used as a textbook or as a guide to conducting research.This book presents, compares, and develops various techniques for estimating market power - the ability to set price profitably above marginal cost - and strategies - the game-theoretic plans used by firms to compete with rivals. The authors start by examining static model approaches to estimating market power. They extend the analysis to dynamic models. Finally, they develop methods to estimate firms' strategies directly and examine how these strategies determine market power. A detailed technical appendix reviews the relevant information-theoretic and other econometric models that are used throughout. Questions and detailed answers for students and researchers are provided in the book for easy use.