On vertical restraints
On Thursday 1 September 2016 Simen Aardal Ulsaker will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
Resale Price Maintenance: Economic theories and legal treatment
Trial lecture:
10:15, Aud. Karl Borch, NHH
Title of the thesis:
On vertical restraints: Essays in Industrial Organization
Summary:
Contracts between firms are often complex. Vertical restraints is a name for any contractual arrangement that comes in addition to a constant unit price. The thesis studies how vertical restraints affect not only the creation and division of profit in an industry, but also which products are made available for the final consumers, and at which prices.
The first chapter, which is co-written by the NHH professors Øivind Anti Nilsen and Lars Sørgard, illustrates how fixed fees that are paid in addition to a constant unit price can affect the welfare effects of a merger between upstream firms. Through analyzing a merger in the Norwegian market for eggs, the chapter shows how a merger that increases the market power of producers may leave consumer prices unchanged, and only, through increased fixed fees, lead to a shift in profit from retailers to producers.
The second chapter considers how the use of exclusionary contracts, that is, contracts where a buyer commits not to buy from other sellers, can limit the distribution of new and valuable products. A theoretical model is developed that illustrates how a producer selling an input to two competing firms can prevent entry of a potential competitor, by signing exclusionary contracts with the buyers.
Chapter three and chapter four discuss quantity rationing tariffs, that is, tariffs that limit the quantity a buyer can buy at a certain unit price. The chapters illustrate through theoretical models how such tariffs can affect consumer prices and the distribution of profits in an industry.
Defense:
12:15, Aud. Karl Borch, NHH
Members of the evaluation committee:
Professor Hans Jarle Kind (leader of the committee), Department of Economics, NHH
Professor Jeanine Miklos-Thal, University of Rochester
Professor Patrick Rey, University of Toulouse
Supervisors:
Professor Lars Sørgard (principal supervisor), Department of Economics, NHH
Professor Thibaud Vergé, ENSAE/CREST
The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public. Copies of the thesis will be available from presse@nhh.no.