Self-regulation under asymmetric cost information

Abstract

In this paper, we study how a monopolistic firm with unknown costs may behave under the threat of regulation. To this aim, we integrate the self-regulation model of Glazer and McMillan (Q J Econ 107(3):1089-1099, 1992) with the optimal regulatory mechanism devised by Baron and Myerson (Econometrica 50(4):911-930, 1982) for the case of asymmetric information. Simulating the equilibrium outcome of our integrated model for a wide range of parameter values, we show among many results that the firm threatened with regulation always constrains its price; moreover, the price the firm charges under the threat of regulation can be even lower than the price it has to charge when it is regulated.