Pollution-Causing Firms Profit More Under Quantity Competition
The article compares the optimal number of firms in a market when they set prices or quantities. It looks at how this affects industry profits and efficiency. The study shows that having more firms is better in the quantity-setting case. Under price-setting, the industry is always inefficient. But with quantity-setting, it can be efficient depending on certain factors. Overall, having more firms in the market can lead to higher welfare levels if pollution is a significant concern.