Two tigers in one Mountain: Are there Implicit Collusions in the U.S. Corn Seed Market?
Date: 12/15 (Thur)
Time: 14:10 – 16:00p.m.
Location: Room 270311, General Building South Wing
Speaker: Professor Guanming Shi (Professor & Department Chair, Agricultural & Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin- Madison)
Description:
In a market dominated by a few leading firms, firms can implicitly divide the market and offer different products from their rivals to avoid direct competition. Such implicit collusion can increase their market power to obtain additional profits. We show the difference in SPNE of implicit collusion between duopoly and oligopoly. Using the U.S. corn seed market as a case study, we examine whether there is evidence of implicit collusion in setting prices and/or product lines. Results indicate that there is significant collusion in not only price setting stage, but also in the product line choosing stage.
