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on Industrial Organization |
| By: | Duso, Tomaso; Harrington, Joseph E.; Kreuzberg, Carl; Sapi, Geza |
| Abstract: | Competition authorities increasingly rely on economic screening tools to identify markets where firms deviate from competitive norms. Traditional screening methods assume that collusion occurs through secret agreements. However, recent research highlights that firms can use public announcements to coordinate decisions, reducing competition while avoiding detection. We propose a novel approach to screening for collusion in public corporate statements. Using natural language processing, we analyze more than 300, 000 earnings call transcripts issued worldwide between 2004 and 2022. By identifying expressions commonly associated with collusion, our method provides competition authorities with a tool to detect potentially anticompetitive behavior in public communications. Our approach can extend beyond earnings calls to other sources, such as news articles, trade press, and industry reports. Our method informed the European Commission's 2024 unannounced inspections in the car tire sector, prompted by concerns over price coordination through public communication. |
| Keywords: | Communication, Collusion, NLP, Screening, Text Analysis |
| JEL: | C23 D22 L1 L4 L64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:329636 |
| By: | Agathe Pernoud; Frank Yang |
| Abstract: | A monopolist sells multiple goods to an uninformed buyer. The buyer chooses to learn any one-dimensional linear signal of their values for the goods, anticipating the seller's mechanism. The seller designs an optimal mechanism, anticipating the buyer's learning choice. In a generalized Gaussian environment, we show that every equilibrium has vertical learning where the buyer's posterior means are comonotonic, and every equilibrium is outcome-equivalent to nested bundling where the seller offers a menu of nested bundles. In equilibrium, the buyer learns more about a higher-tier good, resulting in a higher posterior variance on the log scale. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.16396 |
| By: | Vijay Adithya C ((Corresponding author), Madras School of Economics, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Behind Government Data Centre, Kotturpuram, Chennai, 600025, India.); Poornapushkala Narayanan (Madras School of Economics, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, 600025) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a Cournot market with infinitely many firms facing constant but heterogeneous marginal costs, without assuming perfect competition. We determine a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of equilibrium - the marginal costs converge to a limit r with summable deviations. We deduce from this condition that perfect competition is not automatic in such markets, but competitive behavior emerges asymptotically under certain conditions on the costs. We also consider a family of finite markets growing to the infinite limit market. We show that the equilibria of finite markets converge to that of the limit market if and only if the average marginal costs of the finite markets converge to r. |
| Keywords: | Cournot-Nash Equilibrium, Limit Market, Equilibrium Convergence |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2025-290 |
| By: | Lu Fang; Zhe Yuan; Kaifu Zhang; Dante Donati; Miklos Sarvary |
| Abstract: | We quantify the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on firm productivity through a series of large-scale randomized field experiments involving millions of users and products at a leading cross-border online retail platform. Over six months in 2023-2024, GenAI-based enhancements were integrated into seven consumer-facing business workflows. We find that GenAI adoption significantly increases sales, with treatment effects ranging from 0% to 16.3%, depending on GenAI’s marginal contribution relative to existing firm practices. Because inputs and prices were held constant across experimental arms, these gains map directly into total factor productivity improvements. Across the four GenAI applications with positive effects, the implied annual incremental value is approximately $5 per consumer—an economically meaningful impact given the retailer’s scale and the early stage of GenAI adoption. The primary mechanism operates through higher conversion rates, consistent with GenAI reducing frictions in the marketplace and improving consumer experience. We also document substantial heterogeneity: smaller and newer sellers, as well as less experienced consumers, exhibit disproportionately larger gains. Our findings provide novel, large-scale causal evidence on the productivity effects of GenAI in online retail, highlighting both its immediate value and broader potential. |
| Keywords: | field experiments, generative AI, productivity, retail platforms, consumer experience |
| JEL: | C93 D24 L81 M31 O3 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12201 |
| By: | Yunqi Liu |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption on job loss rates using the Global AI Content Impact Dataset (2020--2025). The panel comprises 200 industry-country-year observations across Australia, China, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom in ten industries. A three-stage ordinary least squares (OLS) framework is applied. First, a full-sample regression finds no significant linear association between AI adoption rate and job loss rate ($\beta \approx -0.0026$, $p = 0.949$). Second, industry-specific regressions identify the marketing and retail sectors as closest to significance. Third, interaction-term models quantify marginal effects in those two sectors, revealing a significant retail interaction effect ($-0.138$, $p |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.15885 |
| By: | Gregor, Leonard; Haucap, Justus |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the temporary reduction in energy taxes implemented by the German government between June and September 2022. We use pricing and quantity data from the wholesale market for crude oil, gasoline, and diesel and find an average pass through of 80% to 85% of the tax cut, which amounts to a 3.7 cents per liter increase in wholesale prices net of tax. We do, however, document significant treatment heterogeneity over time and across regions within Germany. When weighting price effects by quantities sold, the estimated pass-through of the tax cut decreases to about 70% for gasoline and 58% for diesel, suggesting that refinery margins increased significantly during times of higher demand. |
| Keywords: | Pass-through, Tax reduction, Fuel prices, Wholesale markets |
| JEL: | H22 L13 L71 Q48 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:329637 |