Unequal Treatment of Identical Agents in Cournot Equilibrium

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W Salant ◽  
Greg Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Cournot Equilibrium ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Antitrust Regulation

Oligopoly models where prior actions by firms affect subsequent marginal costs have been useful in illuminating policy debates in areas such as antitrust regulation, environmental protection, and international competition. We discuss properties of such models when a Cournot equilibrium occurs at the second stage. Aggregate production costs strictly decline with no change in gross revenue or gross consumer surplus if the prior actions strictly increase the variance of marginal costs without changing the marginal-cost sum. Therefore, unless the cost of inducing second-stage asymmetry more than offsets this reduction in production costs, the private and social optima are asymmetric. (JEL D43, L13, L40)

scholarly journals The costs of icebreaking services: an estimation based on Swedish data

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Lindborg ◽  
Peter Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
External Effects ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Pricing Schemes ◽  
Swedish Data

AbstractIn winter, the sea around Sweden and Finland as well as parts of the waters around Canada, Russia and the USA become ice covered, and ships may require assistance from icebreakers to proceed to their destinations. This paper accordingly analyses the cost structure and estimates the cost of icebreaking operations at sea, including the costs of external effects of the icebreakers’ emissions, and analyses the consequences of different pricing schemes for financing icebreaking services. A regression analysis was carried out based on data from icebreaking services in Sweden over 14 winters from 2001/2002 to 2015/2016. The social marginal cost of an average assistance operation (which may involve more than one ship) is estimated at EUR 6476 and for each assisted ship EUR 5304. The same cost is EUR 907 per running hour for the icebreakers and EUR 1990 per hour a ship is assisted. Each additional nautical mile sailed by an icebreaker costs society EUR 141 and each assisted nautical mile EUR 234. The marginal cost is found not to be related to winter severity. Despite the significant social marginal costs, not including large fixed costs, icebreaking in Sweden and Finland is free of charge. The advantages and disadvantages of four pricing models that can be applied to cover at least parts of the costs to society are discussed. All models could create new distortions, but a price per assisted hour may be worth applying in practice.

scholarly journals Welfare Effects of Water Pricing in Germany

2015 ◽  
Vol 01 (04) ◽  
pp. 1550019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Müller
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Welfare Economic ◽  
Welfare Effects ◽  
Price Structure ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Lump Sum ◽  
Marginal Cost Pricing ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Marginal Price

The observed two-part tariff price structure (consisting of a lump-sum price and linear marginal price) for drinking water in Germany does not reflect the cost structure reported in the literature. Recovering marginal costs from a sample of 251 German counties, we see that there are positive price-cost margins, while lump-sum prices are too low. A price structure readjustment along welfare economic principles (marginal cost pricing, lump-sum price ensures cost-recovery) would increase the mean consumer surplus by 0.037% of the local GDP or €[Formula: see text]2.129 million per county, assuming a share of 15% variable costs in total costs.

scholarly journals Estimating the relative cost of track damage mechanisms: combining economic and engineering approaches

2017 ◽  
Vol 231 (5) ◽  
pp. 620-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Smith ◽  
Simon Iwnicki ◽  
Aniruddha Kaushal ◽  
Kristofer Odolinski ◽  
Phill Wheat
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Rolling Contact Fatigue ◽  
Contact Fatigue ◽  
Rolling Contact ◽  
Damage Mechanisms ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Vehicle Type ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Access Charges

This paper proposes a new, two-stage methodology to estimate the relative marginal cost of different types of vehicles running on the rail infrastructure. This information is important particularly where the infrastructure managers wish to differentiate the track access charges by vehicle type for the purpose of incentivizing the development and use of more track-friendly vehicles. EU legislation requires that the European infrastructure managers set the access charges based on the incremental (marginal) cost of the running trains on their networks. The novelty of the approach derives from the combination of: (1) engineering simulation methods that estimate the track damage caused by the rail vehicles; and (2) econometric methods that estimate the relationship between the actual maintenance costs and the different damage mechanisms. This two-stage approach fills an important gap in the literature, given the limitations of the existing “single-stage” engineering or econometric approaches in obtaining the relative marginal costs for different types of damage. The authors demonstrate the feasibility of the method using 45 track sections from Sweden, for which the data on maintenance costs are available together with relevant track and vehicle data for 2012 (supplied by the Swedish Transport Administration). The authors demonstrate the feasibility of producing summary, section-level damage measures for the three damage mechanisms (wear, rolling contact fatigue, and track settlement), which can be taken forward to the second stage. The econometric results of the second stage indicate that it is possible to obtain sensible relationships between cost and the different damage types, and thus produce relative marginal costs by the damage mechanism and in turn the vehicle type. Based on this feasibility study, tracksettlement has been found to be the most expensive (in terms of maintenance cost) of the three mechanisms, followed by the rolling contact fatigue and then the wear. Future applications should focus on larger datasets in order to produce the required degree of precision on the estimation of the marginal cost.

scholarly journals Marginal Cost & its Variation in Different Economy Scales

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
Antônio Souza Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Marginal Analysis ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Cost

In economics, marginal cost is the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is incremented by one unit; that is, it is the cost of producing one more unit of a good. Intuitively, marginal cost at each level of production includes the cost of any additional inputs required to produce the next unit. At each level of production and time period being considered, marginal costs include all costs that vary with the level of production, whereas other costs that do not vary with production are fixed and thus have no marginal cost. For example, the marginal cost of producing an automobile will generally include the costs of labor and parts needed for the additional automobile and not the fixed costs of the factory that have already been incurred. In practice, marginal analysis is segregated into short and long-run cases, so that, over the long run, all costs (including fixed costs) become marginal.

Immaterial Cost and Production: Maximum Production Cost Level Through Marginal Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-149
Author(s):  
Dini Maulana Lestari
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Production Cost ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Sugar Factory ◽  
Maximum Production ◽  
Cost Approach ◽  
South Sulawesi

This paper will discuss about the immaterial costs and production yields at one of the refined sugar factory companies in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The theory is based on the fact that Immaterial is a cost that is almsgiving, meaning costs that are outside of the basic costs of the company in producing production, so this research aims to find out: (1) what is the production cost needed to produce this production, (2) the maximum level of production at company from 2013 to 2017. This type of research is a quantitative study because it uses a questionnaire in the form of values ​​that are processed using the marginal cost approach formula. The results of the analysis show that (1) the maximum level of production costs occurred in 2016 amounting to 6,912 with an Immaterial cost of Rp. 2,481,796,800 and the total production produced is 359,077.3 tons (2) The required workforce with the total production produced is 359,077.3 tones of 180 people including the maximum production point which means that the lowest value is achieved (optimal).    

SELISIH BIAYA PRODUKSI SEBAGAI ALAT PENGENDALIAN MANAJEMEN PT INDO PUSAKA BERAU

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (02) ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
SAFITRI NURHIDAYATI ◽  
RIZKI AMELYA SYAM
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Material Costs ◽  
Library Research ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Cost

This study aims to analyze whether the difference that occurs in the cost of raw materials, direct labor, and factory overhead costs between the standard costs and the actual costs in PLTU LATI is a difference that is favorable or unfavorable. Data collection techniques with field research and library research. The analytical tool used is the analysis of the difference in raw material costs, the difference in direct labor costs and the difference in factory overhead costs. The hypothesis in this study is that the difference allegedly occurs in the cost of raw materials, direct labor costs, and factory overhead costs at PT Indo Pusaka Berau Tanjung Redeb is a favorable difference. The results showed that the difference in the cost of producing MWh electricity at PT Indo Pusaka Berau Tanjung Redeb in 2018, namely the difference in the price of raw material costs Rp. 548,029.80, - is favorable, the difference in quantity of raw materials is Rp. 957,216,602, - is (favorable) , the difference in direct labor costs Rp 2,602,642,084, - is (unfavorable), and the difference in factory overhead costs Rp 8,807,051,422, - is (favorable) This shows that the difference in the overall production cost budget is favorable or profitable. This beneficial difference shows that the company is really able to reduce production costs optimally in 2018.  

scholarly journals Monitoring the technological processes in the wood industry in order to make them more efficient through technical overhauling

2019 ◽  
Vol 290 ◽  
pp. 02007
Author(s):  
Radu Dan Paltan ◽  
Cristina Biriş ◽  
Loredana Anne-Marie Rădulescu
Keyword(s):  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Operating Mode ◽  
Solid Wood ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Wood Industry ◽  
Research Article ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
The Cost

Of many techniques that are used to optimize production and costs, the studies conducted within a profile company lead to our choice for testing the 6Sigma method (the most used method in the automotive industry) in view of the economic efficiency applied in the wood Industry company. This method measures how many flaws exist in a process and determines in a systematic way how to improve it by technical overhauling and eliminating or minimizing the process for efficiency. This research article aims to study the state of research on the optimization of the production process through technical overhauling for panels reconstituted from solid wood and ways to make production more efficient by cutting costs through technical overhauling. From preliminary research, we estimate that all the items founded and others that will result from further research will result in a significant decrease in production costs that are reflected in the cost of the finished product and consequently in increasing the yield of the company by maximizing its profit. At the same time it may be the basis of future research studies in the field. The easier it is to maximize profits, the lower the operating costs are and the higher recovery rate of investments are, that will result a change in the operating mode: “working smarter not harder”.

scholarly journals Bioethanolic yeasts from dung beetles: tapping the potential of extremophilic yeasts for improvement of lignocellulolytic feedstock fermentation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Ejiro Nwaefuna ◽  
Karl Rumbold ◽  
Teun Boekhout ◽  
Nerve Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Process ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Industrial Wastes ◽  
Major Drawback ◽  
Renewable Fuel ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Simultaneous Saccharification

AbstractBioethanol from abundant and inexpensive agricultural and industrial wastes possesses the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bioethanol as renewable fuel addresses elevated production costs, as well as food security concerns. Although technical advancements in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation have reduced the cost of production, one major drawback of this technology is that the pre-treatment process creates environmental stressors inhibitory to fermentative yeasts subsequently reducing bioethanol productivity. Robust fermentative yeasts with extreme stress tolerance remain limited. This review presents the potential of dung beetles from pristine and unexplored environments as an attractive source of extremophilic bioethanolic yeasts. Dung beetles survive on a recalcitrant lignocellulose-rich diet suggesting the presence of symbiotic yeasts with a cellulolytic potential. Dung beetles inhabiting extreme stress environments have the potential to harbour yeasts with the ability to withstand inhibitory environmental stresses typically associated with bioethanol production. The review further discusses established methods used to isolate bioethanolic yeasts, from dung beetles.

scholarly journals Synthesis of the Microbial Polysaccharide Gellan from Dairy and Plant-Based Processing Coproducts

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-244
Author(s):  
Thomas P. West
Keyword(s):  
Corn Steep Liquor ◽  
Nitrogen Sources ◽  
Soluble Starch ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Microbial Polysaccharide ◽  
Steep Liquor ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Condensed Distillers Solubles

This review examines the production of the microbial polysaccharide gellan, synthesized by Sphingomonas elodea, on dairy and plant-based processing coproducts. Gellan is a water-soluble gum that structurally exists as a tetrasaccharide comprised of 20% glucuronic acid, 60% glucose and 20% rhamnose, for which various food, non-food and biomedical applications have been reported. A number of carbon and nitrogen sources have been tested to determine whether they can support bacterial gellan production, with several studies attempting to optimize gellan production by varying the culture conditions. The genetics of the biosynthesis of gellan has been explored in a number of investigations and specific genes have been identified that encode the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of this polysaccharide. Genetic mutants exhibiting overproduction of gellan have also been identified and characterized. Several dairy and plant-based processing coproducts have been screened to learn whether they can support the production of gellan in an attempt to lower the cost of synthesizing the microbial polysaccharide. Of the processing coproducts explored, soluble starch as a carbon source supported the highest gellan production by S. elodea grown at 30 °C. The corn processing coproducts corn steep liquor or condensed distillers solubles appear to be effective nitrogen sources for gellan production. It was concluded that further research on producing gellan using a combination of processing coproducts could be an effective solution in lowering its overall production costs.

Paper fillers innovations: From design of particles to preparing filler composites

BioResources ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 2117-2118
Author(s):  
Shunxi Song ◽  
Zeshi Wu ◽  
Jingyi Nie
Keyword(s):  
Filler Content ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Critical Properties ◽  
Single Particles ◽  
Paper Mills ◽  
Market Competitiveness ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Natural Fillers

The increase of filler content in paper is an effective way to reduce production costs and to promote the market competitiveness of paper mills. A shift from natural fillers to synthetic fillers has enabled improvements in the critical properties of paper. Meanwhile, innovations from single particles of filler to filler composites has made it possible to increase the filler content of paper. Among various filler innovations, the design of fiber/filler composites has aroused general attention from industry and academic researchers. However, concerns related to the cost and recyclability of composite fillers remain to be addressed.

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