|
on Industrial Competition |
|
Issue of 2023‒11‒06
twenty-two papers chosen by Russell Pittman, United States Department of Justice |
| By: | Jamison, Mark A.; Tęcza, Jakub; Wang, Peter |
| Abstract: | We study the competition effects of platforms entering their own marketplaces in the context of mobile applications. Using a rich panel dataset of monthly observed applications on the most prominent mobile ecosystems, Apple and Android, we seek to understand how the launch of a new application by the platform owner affects consumers and third-party developers (developers). We find evidence that Apple's efforts have positive effects on developers and encourage innovation. But on the Android platform, introduction of a Google app decreases the number of users for developers' apps. This is likely a substitution effect rather than suppression as developers do not decrease their expansion on the Android platform. In general, we find evidence of platform vertical integration having positive impacts for consumers and developers, and only quite weak evidence of suppression. |
| Keywords: | Platforms, competition, vertical integration, regulation, self-preferencing |
| JEL: | L86 L51 K21 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse23:277975&r=com |
| By: | Joan Calzada; Nestor Duch-Brown; Ricard Gil |
| Abstract: | Search engines are important access channels to news content of traditional newspapers with Google alone responsible for 35% of online visits to news outlets in the European Union. Yet, the effects of Google Search on market competition and information diversity have received scant attention. Using daily traffic data for 606 news outlets from 15 European countries, we analyze Google’s capacity to influence organic search visits by exploiting exogenous variation in news outlets’ indexation caused by nine core algorithm updates rolled out by Google between 2018 and 2020. We find Google core updates overall reduced the number of keywords (queries) for which news outlets occupy one of the top 10 organic search results positions. Therefore, given the positive impact that the number of top keywords have on traffic this led to the decrease in the overall number of news outlets’ visits. Finally, when studying the impact of Google core updates on media market concentration, we find the three “big” core updates identified in this period reduced market concentration by 1%, but this effect was offset by the rest of the updates. Similarly, in the context of Spain, we find the three “big” core updates reduced monthly keyword concentration by 4%. |
| Keywords: | search engines, market concentration Google, news sites, Europe |
| JEL: | D43 L50 L82 M31 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10671&r=com |
| By: | José Ignacio Heresi |
| Abstract: | Several antitrust authorities have investigated platform price parity clauses around the world. I analyze the impact of these clauses when platforms design a search environment for sellers and buyers to interact. In a model where platforms choose the unitary search cost faced by consumers, I show when it is profitable for platforms to obfuscate consumers through high search costs. Then, I show that price parity clauses, when exogenously given, can increase or reduce obfuscation, prices, and consumer surplus. Finally, when price parity clauses are endogenous, they are only observed in equilibrium if they hurt consumers. JEL Classifications: D83, L42, L81. Key words: consumer search, obfuscation, platforms, price parity clauses. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:350&r=com |
| By: | Imke Reimers; Joel Waldfogel |
| Abstract: | Regulators are responding to growing platform power with curbs on platforms' potentially biased exercise of power, creating urgent needs for both a workable definition of platform bias and ways to detect and measure it. We develop a simple equilibrium framework in which consumers choose among ranked alternatives, while the platform chooses product display ranks based on product characteristics and prices. We define the platform's ranks to be biased if they deliver outcomes that lie below the frontier that maximizes a weighted sum of seller and consumer surplus. This framework leads to two bias testing approaches, which we compare using Monte Carlo simulations, as well as data from Amazon, Expedia, and Spotify. We then illustrate the use of our structural framework directly, producing estimates of both platform bias and its welfare cost. The EU's Digital Services Act's provision for researcher data access would allow easy implementation of our approach in contexts important to policy makers. |
| JEL: | L40 L81 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31766&r=com |
| By: | Bougette, Patrice; Budzinski, Oliver; Marty, Frédéric |
| Abstract: | Mergers and acquisitions shape industry competition. Effective merger remedies are important for market efficiency and consumer welfare. This paper explores the need for more flexible remedies to address changing markets after mergers. While the EU permits some flexibility with less restrictive remedies, we conceptually advance the design elements of a dual-phase, bifurcated merger control system. This system integrates ex-ante processes with more systematic and comprehensive ex-post measures. Such an approach can address the shortcomings of the current system and, consequently, holds the potential to enhance merger control in dynamic markets. |
| Keywords: | merger remedies, competition authorities, market dynamics, dynamic competition, oligopolies, innovation effects, European Union |
| JEL: | L41 K21 L13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:181&r=com |
| By: | Khemakongkanonth, Chate; Srinuan, Pratompong |
| Abstract: | In the past decades, Thailand's telecommunication market has accommodated 3 dominant providers ranked by subscribers, namely AIS, TRUE, and DTAC, along with one minor government-owned provider NT. In 2021, TRUE and DTAC requested to merge, which was eventually approved by the national regulatory agency in 2022. The 3-to-2 merger here is likely to be more impactful onto the market than more typically seen 4-to-3 mergers. This paper estimates post-merger changes in prices and whether possible efficiency gained due to the merger would be sufficient to deter the mergers from raising their prices. By using time series data on pre-paid and post-paid subscribers of the major three operators, a merger simulation was employed. The proxy for price used in the simulation was average revenue per user divided by minute of use. The simulation assumed that collusion levels between the 3 operators before and after the merger mirror HHIs, and set the level of efficiency gain at 10%. The result showed a 12.95% increase in market price on average. Upward pricing pressure, under a similar setup, indicated a 7.19% increase in average market price. The result justified retail tariff regulation to limit the negative impact on consumers. |
| Keywords: | Mobile telecommunications, Merger simulation, Upward pricing pressure, Demand estimation, Thailand |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse23:277986&r=com |
| By: | Fujisawa, Chieko; Kasuga, Norihiro |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the type of advertisements firms pursue when they engage in Cournot competition, especially when goods are complementary in a multimedia environment. Advertisements are classified into search-linked advertisements for online advertisements and TV commercials for mass media advertisements. Which one should the firm choose? This study also analyzes how corporate advertising strategies affect social welfare and provides insight into the role of advertising in multimedia. A firm's advertisement selection depends on the degree of complementarity and differentiation between advertisements. This analysis also focuses on the advertising strategies of duopoly firms in an extended model, such as hardware firms that are complementary to software products. In that case, both choose mass media advertising when the differentiation is moderate, and this choice raises both aggregate surplus and producer surplus. When advertising complementarity is high for both mass media and online advertising, firms choose different types of advertisements, but social welfare is low. This result is one of the considerations of a firm's sales strategy, how on using advertisements to increase demand and maximize profits. |
| Keywords: | Online media advertising, Mass media advertising, Complementary relationship, Advertising Strategy, Duopoly model |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse23:277960&r=com |
| By: | Dubois, Pierre; Abi Rafeh, Rossi; Griffith, Rachel; O'Connell, Martin |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic equilibrium model of rm competition to study the impact of counterfactual policies, such as taxes and advertising restrictions, on pricing, advertising, consumption and welfare. We estimate the model using micro level data on the market for colas. We use consumer level exposure to television commercials to estimate the impact of advertising on product choice, model rms' dynamic competition through their choice of advertising budgets and product prices, and exploit rms' practice of delegating decisions over advertising slots to agencies to link the rich consumer-level advertising variation with rms' strategic choice variables. We show that a sugar- sweetened beverage tax leads to a reduction in advertising and that the incremental eects of implementing advertising restrictions are substantially reduced with a tax in place. |
| Keywords: | taxation, advertising, discrete choice demand, dynamic oligopoly |
| JEL: | D12 H22 I18 M37 |
| Date: | 2023–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:128618&r=com |
| By: | Zubov, Sergey (Зубов, Сергей) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Vedev, Aleksey (Ведев, Алексей) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Kovaleva, Marina (Ковалева, Марина) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The relevance of the study lies in the fact that credit institutions are actively involved in the process of transforming the financial market in the context of the digital transformation of the economy. The object of the study is commercial banks operating in the financial and banking services market. The subject of the study is the system of economic relations between participants in the financial and banking services market in a competitive environment. The purpose of the study is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the level of banking competition and its impact on the qualitative and quantitative indicators of the functioning of the national banking system. The research methodology includes methods of scientific abstraction, economic and statistical analysis, functional and structural analysis, a systematic approach, a comparison method, graphical and tabular techniques for visualizing statistical and other data, generalization and formalization. The project was carried out as part of the research work of the Structural Research Laboratory of the IAER RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation in 2022. Research results: development of the theoretical concept of banking competition, taking into account the changed external and internal conditions (digitalization of all spheres of life, transformation of the global financial architecture); study of the processes of banking competition in the Russian Federation and abroad, identification of the main markers of the dynamics of changes in the competitive environment in the context of growing development of ecosystems and banking marketplaces; determination of the main prospects for the transformation of the Russian banking system, analysis of risks associated with the practice of banking mergers and acquisitions. Research prospects: development of methodological tools for an integrated assessment of the level of banking competition in various segments of the financial market. |
| Keywords: | Banks, banking competition, banking services, competitiveness, regulatory sandboxes, government regulation |
| JEL: | D41 E58 F12 G21 G32 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2022–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:w20220212&r=com |
| By: | Christian Bredemeier (University of Wuppertal and IZA); Babette Jansen (University of Antwerp); Roland Winkler (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | We propose a new fiscal transmission channel based on countercyclical monopsony power in the labor market. We develop a Two-Agent New Keynesian model incorporating a time-varying degree of monopsony power, with workers valuing various job aspects and firms having wage-setting power, inversely related to the elasticity of labor supply to individual firms. As government spending increases, labor supply to individual firms becomes more elastic, creating more competition, larger fiscal multipliers, and stronger distributional consequences. We examine this channel's interactions with other fiscal transmission channels. Finally, we confirm empirically the model's prediction of reduced employer market power following government spending expansions. |
| Keywords: | fiscal policy, labor-market monopsony, income inequality |
| JEL: | E62 J42 E25 E32 |
| Date: | 2023–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-015&r=com |
| By: | Kortelainen, Mika; Laine, Liisa T.; Lavaste, Konsta; Saxell, Tanja; Siciliani, Luigi |
| Abstract: | We study the allocative effects of enhancing consumer choice and non-price competition in markets with heterogeneous producers. We use comprehensive administrative data and a difference-in-differences design based on the introduction of a regional patient choice reform for planned surgeries in Finland. We find that large teaching hospitals attracted more patients and concentration increased in their markets. Waiting times decreased in hospitals exposed to the reform and more patients were treated, with little effect on clinical quality or average surgical expenditure after the reform. Our results suggest that increased choice can reallocate patients towards large producers and improve public hospital performance. |
| Keywords: | Reallocation, Heterogeneous Producers, Performance, Competition, Concentration, Patient Choice, Market Structure, Local public finance and provision of public services, I11, L11, I18, L32, L38, fi=Elinkeinopolitiikka|sv=Näringspolitik|en=Industrial and economic policy|, fi=Kunnat ja hyvinvointialueet|sv=Kommuner och välfärdsområden|en=Municipalities and wellbeing services counties|, fi=Terveyspalvelut|sv=Hälsovårdstjänster|en=Healthcare services|, |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:156&r=com |
| By: | Jeanjean, François |
| Abstract: | This article studies the impact of the sharing of traffic costs between an Internet access provider and a content provider, both of which have a monopoly on their market. It shows that when the content provider charges consumers for content, cost sharing triggers a virtuous circle that incentivizes the content provider to reduce its traffic, which lowers prices for the end consumer and thus increases, not only the consumers surplus but also the profits of the ISP as well as to some extent, those of the content provider. When the content provider chooses an ad-business model, if it charges at ad-level, the cost sharing also favors consumers surplus and in a wide range of cases, the total surplus. If it charges at content level, the result is always favorable to consumers provided, however, that content provider is able to sufficiently monetize ads. The results are robust to different billing modes for traffic, pay-per-use or flat rate. |
| Keywords: | Telecommunication, fair share, cost sharing |
| JEL: | D61 L11 L86 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse23:277978&r=com |
| By: | Ichihashi Shota; Smolin Alex |
| Abstract: | We analyze a bilateral trade model in which the buyer's value for the product and the seller's costs are uncertain, the seller chooses the product price, and the product is recommended by an algorithm based on its value and price. We characterize an algorithm that maximizes the buyer's expected payoff and show that the optimal algorithm underrecommends the product at high prices and overrecommends at low prices. Higher algorithm precision increases the maximal equilibrium price and may increase prices across all of the seller's costs, whereas informing the seller about the buyer's value results in a mean-preserving spread of equilibrium prices and a mean-preserving contraction of the buyer's payoff. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.12122&r=com |
| By: | Kortelainen, Mika; Markkanen, Jaakko; Siikanen, Markku; Toivanen, Otto |
| Abstract: | Quasi-experimental evidence on the effectiveness of price regulation policies in curbing pharmaceutical expenditure is scarce. We analyze widely utilized generic substitution and reference price policies using data from the Nordic countries. Constructing treatment and control groups by matching data across countries by active ingredients and employing difference-in-difference methods on market-level observations, we find that expenditure per dose decreases by 40% moving from the laxest to the strictest regime. Prices decrease less: Reallocation of demand to cheaper products likely explains the difference. We find no adverse effects on pharmaceutical availability and non-existent or positive quantity effects. |
| Keywords: | pharmaceutical expenditure, pharmaceutical pricing, generic competition, reference pricing, regulation, Local public finance and provision of public services, I11, I18, H51, L51, L65, C23, fi=Elinkeinopolitiikka|sv=Näringspolitik|en=Industrial and economic policy|, fi=Terveyspalvelut|sv=Hälsovårdstjänster|en=Healthcare services|, |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:157&r=com |
| By: | Anna Pavlovova (Charles University, Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | How often do online retailers change prices? Are there any differences in their price rigity? I collected and analysed more than 4 million daily prices of online grocery retailers from Czechia during the unprecedented period between January 2020 and April 2021. There are substantial differences in pricing among the four retailers. The mean number of all price changes ranges among the retailers between 3.10 and almost 11 per year. Most of the price changes are temporary. Retailers change prices permanently on average between 0.68 to 4.04 times per year. The differences in pricing persist even after the disaggregation of the products into individual categories and even in the estimation of the within-between model of the probability of price change. An in-depth analysis of temporary price adjustments is crucial to robustly assess pricing and price rigidity. It is likely to explain part of the discrepancy in pricing found across the retailers. |
| Keywords: | price setting, price exibility, scraped prices, temporary price changes |
| JEL: | E30 D22 L11 L81 M21 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2023_31&r=com |
| By: | Francisco, Kris A. |
| Abstract: | The domestic shipping industry has a crucial role in the Philippine economy as it supports domestic trade and provides an affordable means of interisland transfer. However, the industry is riddled with inefficiencies with interrelated consequences such as high cost of shipping, low quality of services, and increased frequency of maritime accidents. The government has implemented policy reforms to improve the industry’s performance by issuing guidelines and regulations to induce market competition, encourage investments, and enhance maritime safety. This study discusses the evolution of policies and examines some market indications of progress vis-à-vis the areas of reform. Overall, it finds some positive developments concerning market competition resulting from the government’s efforts to deregulate the industry. It also observes some indications of increased investments in domestic vessels. However, comparative data reveal that, on average, the country’s shipping vessels remain older and smaller than in other Asian countries. This signifies the need for more intensive strategies to induce modernization of the country’s fleet. In terms of maritime safety, a significant difference in maritime safety indicators is yet to be observed despite government efforts to curtail the frequency of maritime accidents. Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph. |
| Keywords: | domestic shipping;competition;deregulation;maritime safety;shipping industry |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2023-12&r=com |
| By: | Commander, Simon; Estrin, Saul; De Silva, Thamashi |
| Abstract: | It is acknowledged that Asia’s remarkable economic achievements of the past 50 years build on institutional arrangements very different from the West, including the central role of business groups (BGs) as an organisational form. As the Asian economies move from extensive to intensive growth, we enquire whether the BG format will be as effective going forward, especially with respect to innovation. We argue that the ubiquity of BGs in Asia has been associated with the accretion of significant market power, as well as high overall concentration in the economy as a whole. Our empirical work draws on a sample of more than 9000 Asian firms across seven countries. We find that, unsurprisingly, given their access to additional resources, BGs are more innovative than non-affiliates. However we also find that the wider consequences of the BG form for innovation may be negative. |
| Keywords: | innovation; R&D; Asian business groups; market power; overall concentration |
| JEL: | O53 L22 O30 |
| Date: | 2023–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120082&r=com |
| By: | Mary Amiti; Cédric Duprez; Jozef Konings; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies have documented the rising dominance of large firms over the last few decades in many industrialized countries. Many research papers have focused on the potential negative effects of this increased market concentration, raising concerns about market power in both labor and product markets. In a new study, we investigate whether large firms also generate positive effects. Our research shows that large firms generate significant positive total factor productivity (TFP) spillovers to their domestic suppliers. To date, these types of spillovers have only been identified for multinational enterprises located in developing countries. Using firm-to-firm transaction data for an industrialized country, Belgium, we find that large domestic firms, as well as multinationals, generate positive TFP spillovers. |
| Keywords: | large firms; productivity; spillovers |
| JEL: | E2 |
| Date: | 2023–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:97153&r=com |
| By: | Tong Guo (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 100 Fuqua Drive, Durham, NC 27708); Boya Xu (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 100 Fuqua Drive, Durham, NC 27708); Daniel Yi Xu (Department of Economics, Duke University, 213 Social Science Building, 419 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC 27708) |
| Abstract: | We study the early-stage adoption of impossible meat products by local businesses, overcoming the common challenges in understanding new product entries via local intermediaries: 1) empirically tracking intermediary decisions at scale in a timely manner is difficult if not at all impossible; 2) marketing communications for the innovation is largely endogenous to unobserved demand shocks, making it hard to causally identify the driving factors behind the innovation adoption. Focusing on the key producers in their US market debut between 2015-2019, we construct a novel location-specific adoption metric that accurately measures the decisions of local intermediaries, and link it to comprehensive marketing communication extracted from social media corpus using Natural Language Processing. Using an identification strategy interacting the global shocks in news content with pre-determined local shares of topic-specific news consumption, we find that local news mentioning the innovation increases the regional adoption of impossible meat products by intermediaries. Interestingly, news content about producer financials appears to be as important as content about sustainability in driving local adoption of impossible meat products. We conjecture that financial news plays a role in boosting the perceived market potential of the innovation both by signaling the trustworthiness of the technology (thus lower uncertainty) and by reinforcing the trendiness of the technology (thus providing free marketing to small businesses who adopted the innovation). We further explore news topic heterogeneities by socio-economic conditions and timing. |
| Keywords: | innovation, new product entry, entrepreneurship, social media marketing, news, sustainability, health, natural language processing, topic modeling |
| JEL: | C14 C81 D40 L10 L11 M31 O33 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:2306&r=com |
| By: | Marta Arroyabe (University of Essex, UK); Katrin Hussinger (DEM, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | The winner’s curse describes the behavioral phenomenon that the winner of a bidding contest pays a price which is too high. This paper shows that experiential learning cannot prevent a winner’s curse on the market of corporate control as acquiring firms with acquisition experience still pay a higher price for the target in a bidding contest. Acquisition experience, however, is related to a superior post-acquisition performance of the winning firm after acquisitions associated with a bidding contest. |
| Keywords: | Firm acquisitions, winner’s curse, bidding contest, acquisition experience, experiential learning. |
| JEL: | G34 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:23-07&r=com |
| By: | El Hadi Caoui; Andrew Steck |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the role that content providers play upstream in the global internet supply chain. Using novel data, we establish three stylized facts: (1) Content providers have become the largest buyers of bandwidth capacity, their share of global used bandwidth has grown dramatically (from 5% to 69%) over the period 2005-2021, with important heterogeneity across regions. (2) Content providers (in particular, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft) are vertically integrating into the provision and operation of internet infrastructure, accounting for an increasingly important share of investment in internet cable infrastructure. (3) The growth in content providers' demand is in part associated with the roll-out of their data centers globally and corresponding increase in inter-data center traffic; their investment in private cables is in part driven by data center siting, which are in locations that may lack connectivity to public internet cables. We discuss implications of these trends for innovation, internet traffic transparency, technology standard adoption, and network resilience. |
| Keywords: | internet backbone, content providers, bandwidth market, vertical integration |
| JEL: | L13 L96 L86 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:2307&r=com |
| By: | Larionova, Marina (Ларионова, Марина) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Shelepov, Andrey (Шелепов, Андрей) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The working paper studies the problems of digital platforms regulation related to consumer protection, countering anti-competitive practices, designing preventive (ex-ante) regulations, interdepartmental and international cooperation. The study is highly relevant since digital platforms act as private regulators of their ecosystems. They set rules for users, shape the business environment, control the implementation of rules and the behavior of ecosystem participants. Thus, digital platforms control the behavior of citizens and businesses, while they (until recently) have not been controlled by the state and society. The working paper aims to analyze the main challenges that states face when shaping the new and extending the existing regulatory practices to digital platforms’ activities. Based on the results of the study, the authors assess the main regulatory challenges related to consumer protection, countering the monopoly behavior of developing platforms, developing ex-ante measures, establishing cooperation between various government bodies and international cooperation. The authors conclude with recommendations for improving digital platforms regulation, taking into account the identified challenges. |
| Keywords: | digital economy, digital platforms, ex-ante regulation, Antimonopoly regulation, BRICS |
| JEL: | F52 F53 O38 |
| Date: | 2023–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:w20220242&r=com |