Knife Edge of Plateau: When Do Market Models Tip?

Glenn Ellison () and Drew Fudenberg

No 9528, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper studies whether agents must agglomerate at a single location in a class of models of two-sided interaction. In these models there is an increasing returns effect that favors agglomeration, but also a crowding or market-impact effect that makes agents prefer to be in a market with fewer agents of their own type. We show that such models do not tip in the way the term is commonly used. Instead, they have a broad plateau of equilibria with two active markets, and tipping occurs only when one market is below a critical size threshold. Our assumptions are fairly weak, and are satisfied in Krugman's [1991b] model of labor market pooling, a heterogeneous-agent version of Pagano's [1989] asset market model, and Ellison, Fudenberg and Mobius's [2002] model of competing auctions.

JEL-codes: G1 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo
Note: IO
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (102)

Published as Glenn Ellison & Drew Fudenberg, 2003. "Knife-Edge Or Plateau: When Do Market Models Tip?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(4), pages 1249-1278, November.

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Journal Article: Knife-Edge or Plateau: When Do Market Models Tip? (2003)
Working Paper: Knife-Edge or Plateau: When do Market Models Tip? (2003)
Working Paper: Knife-Edge or Plateau: When Do Market Models Tip? (2003)
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