A theory of buyer-seller networks
Опубликовано на портале: 15-12-2002
American Economic Review.
2001.
Vol. 91.
No. 3.
P. 485-508.
Тематический раздел:
A new model of exchange is introduced: networks, rather than markets, of buyers and sellers. It begins with the empirically motivated premise that a buyer and seller must have a relationship to exchange goods. Networks - buyers, sellers, and the pattern of links connecting them - are common exchange environments. This paper develops a methodology to study network structures and explains why agents may form networks. In a model that captures characteristics of a variety of industries, the paper shows that buyers and sellers, acting strategically in their own self-interests, can form the network structures that maximize overall welfare.