
doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1727534
handle: 11573/435813
Consumer co-operatives constitute a highly successful example of democratic forms of enterprises operating in developed countries. They are usually organized as medium or large-scale firms competing with profit seeking firms in retail industries. In this paper we model such a situation as a mixed oligopoly in which consumer co-operatives maximize consumer-members' utilities and distribute them a patronage rebate on their goods purchase. We show that when consumers possess quasilinear preferences over a bundle of symmetrically differentiated goods and firms operate with a linear technology, the presence of consumer co-operatives positively a¤ects all industries output and social welfare. The effect of Co-ops on welfare is shown to be more significant when goods are either complements or highly di¤erentiated and when competition is a la Cournot rather than a la Bertrand.
Consumer Co-operatives, Profit-maximizing Firms, Mixed Oligopoly., jel: jel:L22, jel: jel:L31, jel: jel:L21
Consumer Co-operatives, Profit-maximizing Firms, Mixed Oligopoly., jel: jel:L22, jel: jel:L31, jel: jel:L21
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