Strategic Choice of Flexible Production Technologies and Welfare Implications
研究企业在何种市场条件下会选择更灵活的生产技术，发现企业可能出于战略原因牺牲利润选择柔性技术，形成囚徒困境，而消费者总是受益。
This paper examines the market. conditions under which firms would choose a more flexible production technology with respect. to product de-sign. We use a two-stage game in which firms choose between flexible and less flexible production technologies in the first stage and subsequently choose output. We find conditions under which firms choose the flexible production option purely for strategic reasons, foresaking profits. In other words, the production technology game can be a Prisoner's Dilemma. Con-sumers, on the other hand, always benefit from the introduction of flexible production technologies. We derive the conditions under which the result-ing equilibria are efficient. 1