Monopoly, Multi-Product Quality, Consumer Heterogeneity, and Market Segmentation

Amit Gayer ()
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Amit Gayer: Economics and Management Department, Tel-Hai College, Qiryat Shemona 9977, Israel

Games, 2025, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: This paper introduces a novel ratio-based framework for analyzing how consumer heterogeneity translates into product differentiation in vertically structured monopoly markets. We consider a monopolist facing a continuum of consumers and a strictly convex production cost function and identify conditions under which the heterogeneity of preferences, measured by the length of the consumer type interval, maps into a corresponding range of offered qualities. The analysis shows that this mapping depends on the curvature of the marginal cost function: under linear costs, the relationship is proportional; under convex costs, heterogeneity expands faster than segmentation; and under concave costs, the reverse occurs. These findings offer a new lens for understanding endogenous market granularity in monopoly settings and have potential applicability in markets with vertically differentiated goods. We also show that under partial market coverage, this proportionality breaks down - even in the linear case - revealing a critical asymmetry in equilibrium structure.

Keywords: monopoly; market segmentation; consumer heterogeneity; multi-product quality; a fully/partially served market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C C7 C70 C71 C72 C73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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