Revisiting the Relationship between Competition and Price Discrimination

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chandra, Ambarish; Lederman, Mara
• 署名单位: University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20160252
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 190-224
• 关键词: states airline industry; market power; dispersion; oligopoly; PROGRAMS

摘要

We revisit the relationship between competition and price discrimination. Theoretically, we show that if consumers differ in terms of both their underlying willingness-to-pay and their brand loyalty, competition may increase price differences between some consumers while decreasing them between others. Empirically, we find that competition has little impact at the top or the bottom of the price distribution but a significant impact in the middle, thus increasing some price differentials but decreasing others. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the relevant sources of consumer heterogeneity and can reconcile earlier conflicting findings.