CHAMBERLIN (Edward H.)
The Theory of Monopolistic Competition. A Re-orientation of the Theory of Value.
An early edition of this ‘seminal’ contribution to the theory imperfect competition (New Palgrave), originally published in 1933, being the same year as Joan Robinson’s The Economics of Imperfect Competition, together the two works laid much of the groundwork for modern microeconomic theory. All early editions are uncommon in dust jacket.
Chamberlin (1899-1967) was a Harvard microeconomist who studied the relationship between competition and price and coined the term product differentiation’ to explain how producers could use targeted branding to charge more for certain products than a perfect market would predict. Chamberlin was a ‘major innovator in modern microeconomic theory’, and did much to break down the unrealistic, polar model of monopoly and pure competition, arguing instead that monopoly and competition are not at odds, but that most markets operate with the two forces in equilibrium (New Palgrave).
