Efficient and Competitive Rationing

Robert Wilson ()

Econometrica, 1989, vol. 57, issue 1, 1-40

Abstract: Priority service rations available supplies according to contracts that specify each customer's priority or rank order. If customers' preferences are stable, this alternative market form can achieve most of the efficiency gains attributed to spot markets, which in some industries are expensive to organize. Rationing by priorities is prominent in capital-intensive industries with nonstorable outputs, as well as in service-sector and make-to-order industries where service is queued or congested. This paper describes the role of priority service and suggests a basic model. The main topic is efficient implementation by public enterprises and by competitive firms. Copyright 1989 by The Econometric Society.

Date: 1989
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (56)

Downloads: (external link)
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0012-9682%2819890 ... O%3B2-W&origin=repec full text (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to JSTOR subscribers. See http://www.jstor.org for details.

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:ecm:emetrp:v:57:y:1989:i:1:p:1-40

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.economet ... ordering-back-issues

Access Statistics for this article

Econometrica is currently edited by Guido Imbens

More articles in Econometrica from Econometric Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().