Cartelized Oil Market with Alternative Energy Supply

Abstract

This paper presents an oil price cartel model. The aggregate reaction functions for non-cartel producers and for substitute suppliers are included. The former group acts as a price-taker, while the latter expects oil prices in production of its non-oil energy resources. This expectation about prices affects a cartel's oil demand and, thus, gives intertemporal price elasticities It turns out that if these elasticities are positive, Hotelling's rule does not apply to a cartelized market in which a cartel behaves as a price-maker.