RESEARCH

Works in Progress

1. Kikcho S.,  M. A.,Marini, R.D. Saulle,  J.-F. Thisse (2025) "Monopolistic Competition under Horizontal and Vertical Differentiation", mimeo.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to extend the CES model of monopolistic colmpetition to the case where varieries are both horizontally and vertically differentiated. A distinctive feature of our model is the presence of a network externality, which operates through the number of varieties available at each quality level. We show that, depending on the quality gap, there can either be corner equilibria in which consumers purchase only high-quality or low-quality varieties, or an interior equilibrium, in which consumers are split between the two qualities. Differently from the standard CES model of monopolistic competition, the equilibrium can be inefficient and the market may even select the outcome that generates the lowest surplus.

Bos, I., G. Maccarrone, Marco A. Marini (2024) "Anti-consumerism: Stick or Carrot" FEEM Working Paper 07.2024 (in submission).

Abstract: Anti-consumerism is a doctrine that aims to discourage excessive consumption because of its damaging effect on the environment. It can either focus on creating psychic costs for consumers (a ‘stick’) or psychic benefits for non-consumers (a ‘carrot’). This paper examines the impact of these two approaches on competition and welfare. The competitive effect is comparable in both cases – anti-consumerism (weakly) reduces competitive pressure as well as prices, outputs and profits. In terms of consumer and social welfare, however, the carrot performs strictly better than the stick.

Cirulli, V., M. A. Marini, G. Marini, O.R. Straume (2023) "Do Hospital Mergers Reduce Waiting Times? Theory and Evidence from the English NHS", FEEM Working Paper 014-2023 and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, forthcoming. 

Abstract: We analyse--theoretically and empirically--the effect of hospital mergers on waiting times in healthcare markets where prices are fixed. Using a spatial modelling framework where patients choose a provider based on traveling distance and waiting times, we show that the effect is theoretically ambiguous. In the presence of cost ynergies, the scope for lower waiting times as a result of the merger is larger if the hospitals are more profit-oriented. This result is arguably confirmed by our empirical analysis, which is based on a conditional flexible difference-in-differences methodology applied to a long panel of data on hospital mergers in the English NHS, where we find that the effects of a merger on waiting times crucially rely on a legal status that can reasonably be linked to the degree of profit-orientation.

Maccarrone, G., M. A. Marini, O. Tarola (2023) "Shop Until You Drop: the Unexpected Effects of Anti-hedonism and Environmentalism", DISSE WP, 01/2023 (R&R Journal of Public Economic Theory).

Abstract: In an economy where consumers have heterogeneous preferences over the hedonic and environmental attributes of goods on sale, we explore the effects of anti-consumerism and environmentalism. We show that when the environmental attributes of products come at the expense of the hedonic attributes, a higher supply of anti-consumerism and environmentalism yields the expected positive effect on the environment. In contrast, when hedonic and environmental attributes are jointly met by a good, higher levels of anti-consumerism and environmentalism negatively affect the society's environmental footprint. Moreover, the welfare impact of anti-consumerism and environmentalism is far from being obvious, giving rise to unexpected redistributive effects between firms and consumers.

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