Abstract
We investigate the effects of passive forward ownership on the sustainability of upstream collusion. We consider a homogeneous Cournot duopoly with competing vertical chains, where each upstream firm has symmetric passive ownership over its downstream exclusive client. With general demand, (i) we show that passive forward ownership increases collusive profits, (ii) we identify two opposing effects of passive forward ownership on punishment and deviating profits: a positive (direct) effect due to ownership and a negative effect working through input prices. By considering three demand functions, including the widely-used linear demand, we show that passive forward ownership hinders upstream collusion.
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