Book Description
'To non-economists, it is hard to understand why economists spend so much effort on the competitive model whereas the world seems to be replete with large and powerful economic actors. In this respect, Jean Gabszewicz is atypical: he has spent most of his research time working on imperfectly competitive markets. However, instead of restricting himself to partial equilibrium analyses, he has tackled from the outset the problem of imperfect competition in a system of interrelated markets with the aim of studying how market power is spread throughout the whole system. This is one of the most challenging and fascinating tasks that economists face. But this is also a very hard one, and may explain why so few have tried. This book builds on the seminal contributions of Cournot and Edgeworth and does not intend to provide a full-fledged answer to the many questions raised by the general theory of imperfect competition. However, by presenting in a transparent way most of the problems that lie at the roots of imperfect competition in general equilibrium and by proposing various elegant solutions, it paves the way to any future research in the field. No doubt it will become a basic reference in the long run. The economics profession should thank Jean Gabszewicz for a fresh and daring way of looking at market power.' - Jacques Thisse, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, France Jean Gabszewicz's new book is devoted to the study of strategic multilateral exchange. Contrary to the classical competitive paradigm in which agents are assumed to behave as price takers, here traders are allowed to consciously behave as strategic agents who aim to influence trade to their own advantage. This is usually done in oligopoly theory using a partial equilibrium approach while in this case a system of interrelated markets is considered.
