The Economics of Quality

This paper develops a model of quality determination where the usual competitive equilibrium conditions hold. The explicit form of quality considered is the wait required to obtain the product. The analysis, however, is much more general, being valid for products that have a characteristic, z, such that (1) demand is a function of price and a measure defined on z, (2) costs are a function of output and the measure on z, and (3) z is a function of output and capacity. Expected profit-maximizing firms, in equilibrium, look like monopolistic competitors. Once constant quality is imposed, however, the perfect competitive results obtain.