병행수입이 소비자 잉여와 사회적 후생에 미치는 영향 - 제품이 해외에서만 생산되는 경우 -

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to study the effects of parallel import (gray import) when the domestic market for the specific product is dominated by a monopolistic foreign firm. Through comparing two cases for the consumer surplus and social welfare : no parallel import and parallel import allowed, the difference is illustrated. In addition, by analyzing multiple gray importers' impact, the general approach is proposed for the real competitive market condition. Composition/Logic: This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 describes the background and the purpose of the study. Section 2 provides the relevant literature. The game theoretic model is provided in Section 3, which consists of two sub-sections ; i) one parallel importer case and ii) multiple parallel importers case. Finally, Section 4 concludes the paper with a discussion of the results and limitations, as well as the future research directions. Findings: Parallel imports can make the domestic market prices lower, further make domestic consumer surplus and social welfare always improved when the product is produced overseas only and no other competitor exists. However, consumer surplus and social welfare can be decreased if numbers of parallel importers increase for the given case. Accordingly, this paper proposes that parallel import should be encouraged if no parallel import is allowed even though the price discrimination exists. Originality/Value: This paper analyzes parallel imports, which mean trading goods without the authorization of a trademark owner. The basically important model is proposed, in which is that an overseas manufacturer sells its product to another country and the parallel importer enters the market. Many other parallel importing cases can be extended from this paper and the meaningful results are contained for a single parallel importer and multiple parallel importers.