Process Innovation Activity in a Mixed Oligopoly: The Role of Cooperatives
构建了一个序贯博弈模型，分析农业部门中合作社参与流程创新活动对市场和福利的影响。研究发现，合作社能提高创新率并降低农业投入品价格，从而提升社会福利，其效果取决于生产者异质性和创新成本。
Abstract This article develops a sequential game‐theoretic model of heterogeneous producers to examine the market and welfare effects of cooperative involvement in process innovation activity in the agricultural sector. The analysis examines an open‐membership, input‐supplying cooperative (co‐op) that maximizes member welfare and finances its innovation activity through retained earnings. Analytical results show that the presence of the co‐op can increase the arrival rate of innovations while reducing the price of agricultural inputs. Cooperative involvement in innovation activity can thus be welfare enhancing and socially desirable with its effectiveness being determined by the degree of producer heterogeneity and the size of innovation costs.