 A Schumpeterian theory of multi-quality firmsJournal of Economic Theory, 2018, vol. 175, issue C, 766-802 Abstract: This paper introduces multi-quality firms within a Schumpeterian framework. Featuring non-homothetic preferences and income disparities in an otherwise standard quality-ladder model, it shows that the resulting differences in the willingness to pay for quality among consumers generate both positive investments in R&D by industry leaders and positive market shares for more than one quality, hence allowing for the emergence of multi-product firms within a vertical innovation framework. This positive investment in R&D by incumbents is obtained with complete equal treatment in the R&D field between the incumbent patent holder and the challengers: in this framework, the incentive for a leader to invest in R&D stems from a “surplus appropriation effect” specific to vertically-differentiated markets, i.e. the perspective of more efficient price discrimination when expanding the product portfolio. Such a framework makes it possible to analyse the impact of income distribution, as well as that of several possible R&D policies, both on long-term growth and on the allocation of R&D activities between challengers and incumbents. Keywords: Growth; Innovation; Income inequality; Multi-product firms (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:175:y:2018:i:c:p:766-802 DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2018.03.005 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Theory is currently edited by A. Lizzeri and K. Shell More articles in Journal of Economic Theory from Elsevier |
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