Abstract
A duopoly is a market in which two firms sell a product to a large number of consumers. Each consumer is too small to affect the market price for the product: that is, on the buyers’ side, the market is competitive. Therefore, in its essence duopoly is a two player variable sum game. Each of the two duopolists is a rational decision-maker whose actions will affect both himself and his rival. Although the interests of the duopolists are intertwined, they are not wholly coincident nor wholly in conflict. In contrast to the agents in competitive markets, the duopolists must each concern themselves with what the other duopolist is likely to do.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Bertrand, J. 1883. Review of Cournot 1838. Journal des Savants 499–508.
Bowley, A. 1924. The mathematical groundwork of economics. New York: Kelley, 1965.
Bowley, A. 1928. Bilateral monopoly. Economic Journal 38: 651–659.
Chamberlin, E. 1933. The theory of monopolistic competition, 7th ed. Cambridge: Harvard, 1956.
Cournot, A. 1838. Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses. Trans. N.T. Bacon. New York: Macmillan, 1927.
Edgeworth, F. 1897. The pure theory of monopoly. Papers Relating to Political Economy I: 111–142.
Edgeworth, F. 1925. Papers relating to political economy. New York: Burt Franklin, 1970.
Friedman, J. 1968. Reaction functions and the theory of duopoly. Review of Economic Studies 35: 257–272.
Friedman, J. 1983. Oligopoly theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Friedman, J. 1986. Game theory with applications to economics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Frisch, R. 1933. Monopole – polypole – la notion de force dans l’économie. Festschrift til Harald Westergaard. Supplement to Nationalekonomisk Tidsskrift.
Hotelling, H. 1929. Stability in competition. Economic Journal 39: 41–57.
Lancaster, K. 1979. Variety, equity, and efficiency. New York: Columbia University Press.
Nash, J. 1951. Noncooperative games. Annals of Mathematics 45: 286–295.
Owen, G. 1968. Game theory, 2nd ed. New York: Academic, 1982.
Selten, R. 1975. Reexamination of the perfectness concept for equilibrium points in extensive games. International Journal of Games Theory 4: 25–55.
Smith, A. 1776. In An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, ed. R.H. Campbell, A.S. Skinner, and W.M. Todd. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.
von Stackelberg, H. 1934. Marktform und Gleichgewicht. Vienna: Julius Springer.
Wicksell, K. 1925. Mathematical economics. In K. Wicksell, Selected papers on economic theory, ed. Erik Lindahl. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Friedman, J.W. (2018). Duopoly. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_210
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_210
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences