Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
零售汽油行业竞争的影响
The Effects of Competition in the Retail Gasoline Industry
摘要
We estimate the effect of competition on incumbent firm pricing by using high frequency price data and the precise geographic location for all gas stations in California. Using an event study design, we find that the entry of a new station is associated with a 2.5 cent decrease in prices at incumbent stores, which equates to a 7% reduction in estimated retail markups. The effects are immediate, persistent, and show no sign of deterrence or limit pricing behavior. In contrast, nearby exit results in precisely estimated null effects on prices with no evidence of predatory pricing in the lead up to the station departure. The results are consistent across all fuel blends and dissipate with station distance. Finally, we explore the asymmetric effects, showing that the difference cannot be attributed to difference in branding, proximity to highway, or data quality idiosyncrasies, although we find suggestive evidence that exit tends to happen in more competitive markets and amongst less heavily trafficked stations.
中文摘要
我们利用高频价格数据和加利福尼亚州所有加油站的精确地理位置，估算了竞争对现有企业定价的影响。通过事件研究设计，我们发现新加油站的进入导致现有门店价格下降2.5美分，相当于零售加价幅度减少7%。这种影响是即时且持久的，没有表现出任何威慑或限制性定价行为的迹象。相比之下，附近加油站的退出对价格产生了精确估计的零效应，且在退出前未发现掠夺性定价的证据。所有燃料混合物的结果均一致，并随距离增加而减弱。最后，我们探讨了非对称效应，表明这种差异不能归因于品牌差异、高速公路邻近性或数据质量特性，尽管我们发现了暗示性证据，即退出往往发生在竞争更激烈的市场以及交通流量较少的加油站中。