pyRVtest

This code was written to perform the procedure for testing firm conduct developed in "Testing Firm Conduct" by Marco Duarte, Lorenzo Magnolfi, Mikkel Sølvsten, and Christopher Sullivan (Quantitative Economics 15(3), 2024). It builds on the PyBLP source code (see Conlon and Gortmaker (2020)) - to do so.

The code implements the following features:

• Computes Rivers and Vuong (2002) (RV) test statistics to test a menu of two or more models of firm conduct allowing for the possibility that firms or consumers face per-unit or ad-valorem taxes.
• Implements the RV test using the variance estimator of Duarte, Magnolfi, Sølvsten, and Sullivan (2024), including options to adjust for demand estimation error and clustering.
• Computes the effective F-statistic proposed in Duarte, Magnolfi, Sølvsten, and Sullivan (2024) to diagnose instrument strength with respect to worst-case size and best-case power of the test, and reports appropriate critical values.
• Reports Hansen, Lunde, and Nason (2011) MCS p-values for testing more than two models.
• Ships a class-based ConductModel API: standard oligopoly (Bertrand, Cournot, Monopoly, PerfectCompetition, MixCournotBertrand), generalizations (PartialCollusion, Vertical), Dearing, Magnolfi, Quint, Sullivan, and Waldfogel (2024) simple-markup models (RuleOfThumb(phi), ConstantMarkup(markup)), and customization escape hatches (UserSuppliedMarkups for precomputed markup columns, CustomConductModel for arbitrary markup callables).
• Ships the full Dearing, Magnolfi, Quint, Sullivan, and Waldfogel (2024) pass-through framework as a diagnostic suite on Problem and ProblemResults: passthrough_summary (pre-solve γ-free pair-by-pair structural-feature distances against four DMQSW-keyed metrics), passthrough_matrix (raw per-candidate pass-through matrix, computed numerically for every conduct class with analytical fast paths for Vertical and trivial conducts), and instrument_channels (post-solve channel decomposition for one chosen IV column). Under non-constant marginal cost (endogenous_cost_component set), instrument_channels automatically applies DMQSS Appendix B's z^e residualization, producing a single unified diagnostic that collapses the Dearing condition and the DMQSS Appendix A.4 distinctness check.
• Supports endogenous_cost_component as either a single column name (single endogenous cost variable, the original v0.4 case) or a list of column names (multi-endogenous variables — quadratic cost ['q', 'q_sq'], scale + scope ['log_q', 'log_Q_minus'], etc., per DMQSS Appendix A.4). Combinable with demand_adjustment=True and costs_type='log'.
• Experimental — Supports labor-side conduct testing via Problem(market_side='labor') with Monopsony, BertrandWages, and CournotEmployment model classes. The labor API is considered experimental in v0.4: the sign convention, column-name defaults, and validation behavior may adjust based on coauthor review (pyRVtest/models/labor.py is flagged for a labor-market-conduct-manuscript sign check). NashBargaining raises NotImplementedError and the full LaborSupplyBackend math (Jacobian, Hessian, demand-adjustment participation) is deferred to v0.5.
• Provides instrument construction helpers (pyRVtest.instruments.product: BLP, differentiation IVs, rival sums; pyRVtest.instruments.labor: Hausman, Bartik).
• Compatible with PyBLP Conlon and Gortmaker (2020), so that demand can be estimated with PyBLP, and the estimates are an input to the test for conduct. A DemandBackend protocol also supports user-supplied demand systems; see docs/custom_demand.rst.

For a full list of references, see the references in Duarte, Magnolfi, Sølvsten, and Sullivan (2024).

Install

First, you will need to download and install python, which you can do from this link. pyRVtest v0.4 requires Python >=3.9.

You will also need to make sure that you have all package dependencies installed.

Release candidate (v0.4): PyPI still serves the older v0.3 line; the v0.4 release candidate is installed from the GitHub tag:

pip install git+https://github.com/anyatarascina/pyRVtest@v0.4.0rc15

The v0.4 series will be uploaded to PyPI once it leaves release-candidate status.

Older v0.3 release: still available from PyPI for users on the prior public API:

pip install pyRVtest

To update to a newer version of the package use:

pip install --upgrade pyRVtest

Dependencies (auto-installed): numpy, pandas, statsmodels, pyblp, patsy, scipy, sympy, jinja2. Note: numpy >= 2 requires pyblp >= 1.2; pyRVtest enforces this at import time with a clean ImportError if the resolved combination is inconsistent.

Quick start

A complete pyRVtest run on a synthetic dataset shipped with the package (2 single-product firms × 3000 markets, simulated under perfect competition with logit demand). Tests four candidate conduct models (Bertrand, Cournot, Monopoly, Perfect Competition) using rival cost shifters as testing instruments per Dearing, Magnolfi, Quint, Sullivan, and Waldfogel (2024).

import pyRVtest

data = pyRVtest.data.load_example()
results = pyRVtest.Problem(
    cost_formulation=pyRVtest.Formulation('1 + z1 + z2'),
    instrument_formulation=pyRVtest.Formulation('0 + rival_z1 + rival_z2'),
    models=[
        pyRVtest.Bertrand(ownership='firm_ids'),
        pyRVtest.Cournot(ownership='firm_ids'),
        pyRVtest.Monopoly(),
        pyRVtest.PerfectCompetition(),
    ],
    product_data=data,
    demand_params={'estimate': 'logit',
                   'formulation_X': pyRVtest.Formulation('1 + x1'),
                   'formulation_Z': pyRVtest.Formulation('0 + z1')},
).solve(demand_adjustment=False)
print(results)

Output:

Testing Results - Instruments z0:
===============================================================================================================
  TRV:                                 |   F-stats:                                   |    MCS:
--------  ---  -----  -------  ------  |  ----------  ---  -------  -------  -------  |  --------  ------------
 models    0     1       2       3     |    models     0      1        2        3     |   models   MCS p-values
--------  ---  -----  -------  ------  |  ----------  ---  -------  -------  -------  |  --------  ------------
   0      nan  6.894  -9.103   6.771   |      0       nan   92.8     170.2    2.6     |     0          0.0
                ***     ***     ***    |                   ††† ^^^  ††† ^^^  ††† ^^^  |
   1      nan   nan   -10.555  0.419   |      1       nan    nan     178.4    0.0     |     1         0.675
                        ***            |                            ††† ^^^   †††     |
   2      nan   nan     nan    10.593  |      2       nan    nan      nan      1.4    |     2          0.0
                                ***    |                                     ††† ^^^  |
   3      nan   nan     nan     nan    |      3       nan    nan      nan      nan    |     3          1.0
===============================================================================================================

Models 0/1/2/3 correspond to Bertrand / Cournot / Monopoly / Perfect Competition (in the order passed to models=). Each block has rows and columns indexed by model number; cell [i, j] shows the pairwise statistic for model i vs. model j. The diagonal is nan (a model is not compared to itself); off-diagonals carry significance markers (* 10%, ** 5%, *** 1% for TRV; †/^ for F-stat size/power thresholds). The MCS column is per-model.

The truth in this dataset is Perfect Competition. Reading the output:

• Bertrand (model 0) and Monopoly (model 2) are cleanly rejected: their MCS p-values are both 0.0, and every pairwise TRV involving them is significant at 1% (***).
• Perfect Competition (model 3) has the highest MCS p-value (1.0).
• Cournot (model 1) has MCS p-value 0.675 — surviving the confidence set despite not being the truth. The TRV(Cournot, PC) cell is the only insignificant comparison (0.419), and its F-stat is effectively zero. This is the Dearing et al. (2024) degeneracy result: under logit demand, both Cournot and PC have diagonal pass-through matrices (zero off-diagonal pass-through of rival costs), so rival cost shifters cannot distinguish them. To falsify Cournot in favor of PC here, the researcher would need a different instrument such as own or rival product characteristics.

Reader's guide

Where to go next, by audience:

• End users running the test on their own data — Tutorial (worked notebooks).
• Migrating from v0.3 — docs/migrating_to_v0.4.rst. The class-based ConductModel API, demand_params=dict(rho=...), and Problem-level unit_tax / advalorem_tax kwargs are all new in v0.4; the legacy per-model ModelFormulation, sigma alias, and per-model tax kwargs continue to work for one or two releases with DeprecationWarning.
• Custom demand backend — docs/custom_demand.rst covers the DemandBackend protocol.
• AI coding assistants and contributors — AGENTS.md at the repo root is the living contract for code state, layout, and conventions. docs/agent_guide.rst is the longer architecture walkthrough (also surfaced via pyRVtest.show_agent_guide()). CONTRIBUTING.md covers dev environment setup, running tests / lint / docs locally, and the conventions for adding new conduct models or demand backends.

Citing the package

When using pyRVtest in research, please cite the package itself plus the methodology papers your usage exercises.

Package:

Duarte, M., L. Magnolfi, M. Sølvsten, C. Sullivan, and A. Tarascina (2023): “pyRVtest: A Python package for testing firm conduct,” https://github.com/anyatarascina/pyRVtest.

Methodology papers:

• For the Rivers-Vuong test, F-statistic, MCS p-values, and demand-adjustment correction:

  Duarte, M., L. Magnolfi, M. Sølvsten, and C. Sullivan (2024): “Testing Firm Conduct,” Quantitative Economics, 15(3), 571-606.

• For pass-through diagnostics, simple-markup models (RuleOfThumb, ConstantMarkup), and the instrument-relevance / falsification framework:

  Dearing, A., L. Magnolfi, D. Quint, C. Sullivan, and S. Waldfogel (2024): “Learning Firm Conduct: Pass-Through as a Foundation for Instrument Relevance,” NBER Working Paper No. 32863, August 2024.

• For the endogenous-cost-component first-stage correction (non-linear cost):

  Duarte, M., L. Magnolfi, D. Quint, M. Sølvsten, and C. Sullivan (2026): “Conduct and Scale Economies: Evaluating Tariffs in the US Automobile Market,” Working paper.

BibTeX:

@misc{pyrvtest,
    author={Marco Duarte and Lorenzo Magnolfi and Mikkel S{\o}lvsten and Christopher Sullivan and Anya Tarascina},
    title={\texttt{pyRVtest}: A Python package for testing firm conduct},
    howpublished={\url{https://github.com/anyatarascina/pyRVtest}},
    year={2023}
}

@article{dmss2024,
    author={Marco Duarte and Lorenzo Magnolfi and Mikkel S{\o}lvsten and Christopher Sullivan},
    title={Testing Firm Conduct},
    journal={Quantitative Economics},
    volume={15},
    number={3},
    pages={571--606},
    year={2024},
    doi={10.3982/QE2319}
}

@techreport{dmqsw2024,
    author={Adam Dearing and Lorenzo Magnolfi and Daniel Quint and Christopher Sullivan and Sarah Waldfogel},
    title={Learning Firm Conduct: Pass-Through as a Foundation for Instrument Relevance},
    institution={National Bureau of Economic Research},
    type={NBER Working Paper},
    number={32863},
    month={August},
    year={2024}
}

@article{dmqss2026,
    author={Marco Duarte and Lorenzo Magnolfi and Daniel Quint and Mikkel S{\o}lvsten and Christopher Sullivan},
    title={Conduct and Scale Economies: Evaluating Tariffs in the US Automobile Market},
    year={2026}
}

Bugs and Requests

Please use the GitHub issue tracker to submit bugs or to request features.