226/2015 Simon Lapointe, Carlo Perroni, Kimberley Scharf and Janne Tukiainen

We analyse implications of market size on market structure in the not-for-profit sector. We show that, while a standard model of oligopolistic competition between for-profits predicts a positive relationship between market size and firm size, an analogous model of not-for-profit competition predicts no such correlation. We then interrogate these predictions empirically by focusing on five charitable markets for local public goods. These findings both reject the applicability of the classic theories of oligopolistic competition between for-profit firms to the not-for-profit case and fail to reject the simple model proposed here.

Behavioural Economics and Wellbeing

Journal of Public Economics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.10.003