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1、DurableGoodsMonopolywithEndogenousQualityJong-HeeHahnKeeleUniversity∗(Preliminary)March30,2004AbstractThispaperexaminesthedynamicpricingproblemofadurable-goodmonopolistwhenproductqualityisendogenous.Itisshownthattherelationshipbetweenthefirm’squalitychoiceandthetime-inconsistencyproblem
2、cruciallydependsonhowtheunitproductioncostvarieswithquality.Themonopolistmayusequalityasastrategiccommitmentdevicetoeliminatethetime-inconsistencyproblem.Also,itmayhaveincentivestochooseaqualityhigherorlowerthantheoptimalcommitmentlevel.Thiscontrastswiththeplannedobso-lescenceliteratur
3、ewheredurablegoodsmonopolistsreducesdurability(oftenregardedasameasureofquality)tomitigatethetime-inconsistencyproblem.Keywords:DurableGoods,Quality,Time-inconsistency.JELclassification:D42,L12.1IntroductionAnimportantpropositionineconomicliteratureondurable-goodmonopoliesisthatasellerf
4、acesaproblemoftimeinconsistency(Coase(1972),Bulow(1982),andothers).Theproblemarisesbecausedurablegoodssoldinthefutureaffectthefuturevalueofunitssoldtoday,andintheabsenceoftheabilitytocommittofuturepricesthemonopolistdoesnotinternalizethisexternality.Therehavebeennumerousinvestigationson
5、therobustnessoftheresultinthe∗DepartmentofEconomics,KeeleUniversity,Keele,StaffsST55BG,UK.Email:j.h.hahn@econ.keele.ac.uk1literature.BondandSamuelson(1984)showthatdepreciationandreplacementsalesreducethemonopolist’stendencytocutprice.Kahn(1986)showsasimilarresultwhenthemonopolistfacesan
6、upward-slopingmarginalcostschedule.Also,therehavebeenmanystudiesanalyz-ingmeansandpracticesdurable-goodmonopolistscanemploytoovercomeormitigatethetime-inconsistencyproblem,notablyleasing(Bulow,1982),plannedobsolescence(Bulow,1986;Waldman,1993),contractualprovisionssuchasbest-priceprovi
7、sionsormost-favored-customerclauses(Butz,1990),andmorerecentlyproduct-lineextensionusingqualitydifferentiation(Hahn,2002;Inderst,2002;Takeyama,2002).However,oneoftheaspectsthatreceivedlittleattentioninthisliteratureishowthetime-inconsistencyresultisaffectedwhenqualityofproductischosene
