Bilateral Oligopoly – The Efficiency of Intermediate Goods Markets

We show that intermediate goods markets may be efficient, despite the presence of commonly accepted signs of market failure, such as high concentration (both among sellers and buyers), sparse trading networks, price dispersion and externalities. The results are derived in an extensive form model of bilateral bargaining with multiple buyers and multiple sellers, and with externalities between the negotiations. We also characterize the structure of the endogenous trading network, i.e., how firms choose trading partners. Prices are dispersed and depend on both the concentration of capital and the concentration of sales, consistent with some stylized facts on buyer power.