Comparative dynamics in a productive asset oligopoly

We build a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium of a common property productive asset oligopoly and analyze separately the impact of a change in the implicit growth rate of the asset and a change in the number of firms exploiting the asset. We show that the steady state level of asset can be a decreasing function of the asset’s implicit growth rate. This phenomenon arises when the initial stock of asset is below a certain threshold. In the short-run we show that firms’ exploitation rate can be a decreasing function of the implicit growth rate. We study the impact of a change in the number of firms that share access to the asset. Reducing the number of firms can result, in the long-run, in higher industry production. In the short-run, it can result in an increase of the industry’s exploitation and a decrease of the level of the asset’s stock. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D43; L13; Q34; C73