arXiv Open Access 2025

Contest vs. Competition in Cournot Duopoly: Schaffer's Paradox

Rabah Amir Igor V. Evstigneev Mikhail V. Zhitlukhin
Lihat Sumber

Abstrak

The paper compares two types of industrial organization in the Cournot duopoly: (a) the classical one, where the market players maximize profits and the outcome of the game is a Cournot-Nash equilibrium; (b) a contest in which players strive to win a fixed prize/bonus employing unbeatable strategies. Passing from (a) to (b) leads to a perfect competition with zero profits of the players (Schaffer's paradox). Transition from (b) to (a) results in a substantial decline in the production output, which also seems paradoxical, as it is commonly accepted that competition increases efficiency. We examine these phenomena in two versions of the Cournot model: with a homogeneous good and with differentiated goods.

Topik & Kata Kunci

Penulis (3)

R

Rabah Amir

I

Igor V. Evstigneev

M

Mikhail V. Zhitlukhin

Format Sitasi

Amir, R., Evstigneev, I.V., Zhitlukhin, M.V. (2025). Contest vs. Competition in Cournot Duopoly: Schaffer's Paradox. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.00960

Akses Cepat

Lihat di Sumber
Informasi Jurnal
Tahun Terbit
2025
Bahasa
en
Sumber Database
arXiv
Akses
Open Access ✓