Document Type

Other

Source Publication

Social Science Research Network

Publication Date

2-20-2012

Keywords

Nonlinear pricing, bundling, incremental discounts, all-units discounts, incentive-compatible mechanisms

Abstract

In the context of monopolistic nonlinear pricing, we compare the maximum profits of bundling, incremental discounts, and all-units discounts. When the number of pricing blocks is unrestricted, incremental discounts perform weakly the worst. However, if the performance of incremental discounts is not strictly worse when the number of blocks is unrestricted, then it performs the best when the number of blocks is restricted. It is because incremental discounts have the smallest "implementation power" and the largest "approximation power". These results are applications of our general theory of menu implementability, which characterizes the set of outcomes implementable by a menu of tariff options, where the set of admissible tariff options and the number of tariff options in the menu are pre-determined.

DOI

10.2139/ssrn.1915752

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc.

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Accepted Author Manuscript

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Wong, A. C. L. (2012). Menu implementability and practical pricing schemes. Social Science Research Network. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1915752

Share

COinS