Research On The Competitive Effect Of Across Platform Price-parity Agreement

In recent years,the rapid development of bilateral markets has injected new blood into the economy,greatly promoted the development of the global economy,but also brought challenges in all aspects.Among them,Across Platform Price-parity Agreements(APPA),a vertical restriction agreement in bilateral markets,has recently attracted great attention.A survey conducted by the International Competition Organization in 2015 showed that APPA was one of the three most interested vertical restriction agreements in the online market(the other two were resale price maintenance and sales restrictions).Vertical agreement and price parity agreement have always been hot issues in the field of industrial organization research,and APPA,as a combination of the two,needs more attention.In order to better understand its meaning,this paper first reviews the contents of the previous price-related agreements,and then further explains and theoretically analyzes APPA.Then,this paper studies the non-cooperative game between platform enterprises in the bilateral market,and draws the competition pattern and pricing law between platform enterprises in the bilateral market under normal circumstances.After re-analysis,after the platform companies in the bilateral market sign the APPA,what changes will occur in the competition between them,and what changes will occur in pricing.What happens to the final product price and consumer welfare.This leads to the impact of APPA's vertical price association agreement on competition in the bilateral market.In the bilateral market discussed in this paper,the sales mode of platform enterprises and sellers is the agent mode,which is also consistent with the operation mode of most platform enterprises in the world.The agent mode is that when the seller sells the products on the platform,it needs to set the product price by itself and pay a transaction fee to the platform,which shall be set by the platform.The research method of this paper is to establish an economic model,simulate the market structure and main body,respectively construct the profit function and cost function of sellers and platform enterprises,assume that each manufacturer carries out market activities with the principle of profit maximization,and obtain the equilibrium price of the game.The theory of pareto optimality and pareto improvement in game theory is used to study the pricing strategy between platform enterprises.It is concluded that if there is no APPA in the bilateral market,then the pricing strategies between platform enterprises are strategically complementary,the price elasticity of product demand transaction cost is high,and the equilibrium product price level and transaction cost level after the game are low.However,if APPA exists in bilateral markets,the competitive strategies between platforms will change from strategic substitution to strategic complementarity,and the price elasticity of demand transaction costs will be reduced.The equilibrium product price level and transaction cost level generated after the game will be higher.In other words,APPA leads to the weakening of competition between platform enterprises in bilateral market.This paper also carried out the endogenous analysis of platform enterprises signing APPA,and concluded that no matter what the situation is,platform enterprises choosing to sign APPA is a pareto improvement strategy for profits,and any platform enterprises choosing to sign APPA will gain more profits.Therefore,in the final bilateral market,all platform enterprises will definitely choose to sign APPA,which will definitely lead to the increase of product price and the reduction of consumer welfare.In the United States and the European Union,it has a relatively complete legal regulation system.However,there are currently no laws and regulations on related cases in China.Therefore,this paper selects two typical cases from the United States and the European Union,and makes a detailed analysis.It is hoped that this can guide China's reasonable regulation of APPA cases.Finally,this paper puts forward the legal advice on the regulation of APPA in China.The proposal should be considered from the two aspects of damage competition and promotion of competition,and set up defenses.Regulate the principles of rationality used by the United States and the European Union.