Stability of Equilibrium Prices in a Dynamic Duopoly Bertrand Game with Asymmetric Information and Cluster Spillovers

Bounded rationality, asymmetric information and spillover effects are widespread in the economic market, and had been studied extensively in oligopoly games, but few references discussed incomplete information in a duopoly market with rationality expectations. Considering the positive externalities brought by the spillover effect between enterprises in a cluster, a duopoly Bertrand game with bounded rationality and asymmetric information is proposed in this paper. In our model, a firm with private information, high or low marginal cost, is introduced. Interestingly, our theoretical analysis reveals that: (1) In a dynamic duopoly Bertrand game with perfect rationality and asymmetric information, the equilibrium price is positively correlated with product substitution rate and the probability of a high marginal cost, while it is negatively correlated with the cluster spillover. (2) In a dynamic duopoly Bertrand game with asymmetric information and adaptive expectation adopted by both firms, the Nash equilibrium prices are always asymptotically stable. (3) In a dynamic duopoly Bertrand game with heterogenous expectation and asymmetric information, where two firms use adaptive expectation and boundedly rational expectation respectively, the Nash equilibrium prices are locally stable under certain conditions. Furthermore, results indicate that, high product substitution rate or large probability of high marginal cost for firm 2 with private information may make the market price unstable, bifurcating or even falling into chaos, while high technology spillover is conducive to stabilize the market by contrast. It is also shown that the chaos can be controlled by a hybrid control strategy with the state variables feedback and parameter variation. Our research has an important theoretical and practical significance to the price competition in oligopoly markets.

A Dynamic Multi-Objective Duopoly Game with Capital Accumulation and Pollution

This paper studies a discrete-time dynamic duopoly game with homogenous goods. Both firms have to decide on investment where investment increases production capacity so that they are able to put a larger quantity on the market. The downside, however, is that a larger quantity raises pollution. The firms have multiple objectives in the sense that each one maximizes the discounted profit stream and appreciates a clean environment as well. We obtain some surprising results. First, where it is known from the continuous-time differential game literature that firms invest more under a feedback information structure compared to an open-loop one, we detect scenarios where the opposite holds. Second, in a feedback Nash equilibrium, capital stock is more sensitive to environmental appreciation than in the open-loop case.

Stability, Multistability, and Complexity Analysis in a Dynamic Duopoly Game with Exponential Demand Function

In this paper, a discrete-time dynamic duopoly model, with nonlinear demand and cost functions, is established. The properties of existence and local stability of equilibrium points have been verified and analyzed. The stability conditions are also given with the help of the Jury criterion. With changing of the values of parameters, the system shows some new and interesting phenomena in terms to stability and multistability, such as V-shaped stable structures (also called Isoperiodic Stable Structures) and different shape basins of attraction of coexisting attractors. The eye-shaped structures appear where the period-doubling and period-halving bifurcations occur. Finally, by utilizing critical curves, the changes in the topological structure of basin of attraction and the reason of “holes” formation are analyzed. As a result, the generation of global bifurcation, such as contact bifurcation or final bifurcation, is usually accompanied by the contact of critical curves and boundary.

The effect of price discrimination on dynamic duopoly games with bounded rationality

In a homogenous product market, customers’ different demand elasticities may lead to different prices. This study examined price discrimination’s effect on equilibrium points in Cournot duopoly games by assuming that each firm charges K prices and adjusts its strategies based on bounded rationality. In consideration of price discrimination, two discrete dynamic game systems with 2K variables were introduced for players with homogenous or heterogenous expectations. The stability of the Nash equilibrium point was found to be independent of price discrimination. Given price discrimination, the stability of boundary stationary points for the system with homogenous players is different from that for the system with heterogenous players. Numerical simulations verified the critical point for the system with homogenous players from being stable to its bifurcation.

A Dynamic Duopoly Model: When a Firm Shares the Market with Certain Profit

The current paper analyzes a competition of the Cournot duopoly game whose players (firms) are heterogeneous in a market with isoelastic demand functions and linear costs. The first firm adopts a rationally-based gradient mechanism while the second one chooses to share the market with certain profit in order to update its production. It trades off between profit and market share maximization. The equilibrium point of the proposed game is calculated and its stability conditions are investigated. Our studies show that the equilibrium point becomes unstable through period doubling and Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. Furthermore, the map describing the proposed game is nonlinear and noninvertible which lead to several stable attractors. As in literature, we have provided an analytical investigation of the map’s basins of attraction that includes lobes regions.

A Dynamic Duopoly Game with Content Providers’ Bounded Rationality

This paper investigates the dynamical behaviors of a duopoly model with two content providers (CPs). Competition between two CPs is assumed to take place in terms of their pricing decisions and the credibility of content they offer. According to the CPs’ rationality level, we consider a scenario where both CPs are bounded rational. Each CP in any period uses the marginal profit observed from the previous period to choose its strategies. We compute explicitly the steady states of the dynamical system induced by bounded rationality, and establish a necessary and sufficient condition for stability of its Nash equilibrium (NE). Numerical simulations show that if some parameters of the model are varied, the stability of the NE point is lost and the complex (periodic or chaotic) behavior occurs. The chaotic behavior of the system is stabilized on the NE point by applying control.

Dynamic Effects Arise Due to Consumers’ Preferences Depending on Past Choices

We analyzed a dynamic duopoly game where players adopt specific preferences. These preferences are derived from Cobb–Douglas utility function with the assumption that they depend on past choices. For this paper, we investigated two possible cases for the suggested game. The first case considers only focusing on the action done by one player. This action reduces the game’s map to a one-dimensional map, which is the logistic map. Using analytical and numerical simulation, the stability of fixed points of this map is studied. In the second case, we focus on the actions applied by both players. The fixed points, in this case, are calculated, and their stability is discussed. The conditions of stability are provided in terms of the game’s parameters. Numerical simulation is carried out to give local and global investigations of the chaotic behavior of the game’s map. In addition, we use a statistical measure, such as entropy, to get more evidences on the regularity and predictability of time series associated with this case.