Competition, Monopoly, and Aftermarkets

Dennis W. Carlton, Michael Waldman

NBER Working Paper No. 8086
Issued in January 2001
NBER Program(s):   IO

Consider a durable goods producer that potentially has market power in the aftermarkets associated with its products. An important question is to what extent, if any, should the antitrust laws restrict the firm's behavior in these aftermarkets? In this paper we explore a number of models characterized by either competition or monopoly in the new-unit market, and show that a variety of behaviors that hurt competition in aftermarkets can, in fact, be efficient responses to potential inefficiencies that can arise in aftermarkets. Our results should give courts pause before intervening in aftermarkets.

(209 K)

Published: Carlton, Dennis W. and Michael Waldman. "Competition, Monopoly, and Aftermarkets." Journal of Law, Economics and Organization (April 2009).

This paper is available as PDF (209 K) or via email.

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX