Bankruptcy Costs and the Theory of Oligopoly

James Brander and Tracy Lewis

Canadian Journal of Economics, 1988, vol. 21, issue 2, 221-43

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between financial decisions and output decisions in oligopolistic markets. Assuming a duopoly market structure in which financial decisions and output decisions follow in sequence, the authors analyze how bankrupt cy costs, which are incurred when the firm is unable to meet current debt obligations, affect the firm's behavior in output markets. With fixed bankruptcy costs, firms have an incentive to increase output le vels if they take on more debt. Proportional bankruptcy costs lead to a U-shaped relationship between output and debt. Foresighted owners of firms are led to take into account the strategic output effects of financial structure when considering an optimal financial structure for the firm.

Date: 1988
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (61)

Downloads: (external link)
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0008-4085%2819880 ... CATTO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X (text/html)
only available to JSTOR subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cje:issued:v:21:y:1988:i:2:p:221-43

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.economic ... ionen/membership.php

Access Statistics for this article

Canadian Journal of Economics is currently edited by Zhiqi Chen

More articles in Canadian Journal of Economics from Canadian Economics Association Canadian Economics Association Prof. Werrner Antweiler, Treasurer UBC Sauder School of Business 2053 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Prof. Werner Antweiler ().