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Competitive Non-Linear Pricing in Duopoly Equilibrium: The Early US Cellular Telephone Industry

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  • Röller, Lars-Hendrik
  • Miravete, Eugenio

Abstract

This Paper estimates an equilibrium oligopoly model of horizontal product differentiation where firms compete in non-linear tariffs. The estimation explicitly incorporates the information contained in the shape of the tariffs offered by competing duopolists to recover the structural parameters associated to the distribution of consumers? unobserved heterogeneity. The model identifies the determinants of the non-uniform equilibrium markups charged to consumers who make different usage of cellular telephone services. Estimates are then used to evaluate the welfare effects of competition, a reduction of the delay in awarding the second cellular license, and alternative linear and non-linear pricing strategies. Our policy evaluations reveal that a single two-part tariff achieves 63% of the potential welfare gains and 94% of the profits of a more complex fully nonlinear tariff.

Suggested Citation

  • Röller, Lars-Hendrik & Miravete, Eugenio, 2003. "Competitive Non-Linear Pricing in Duopoly Equilibrium: The Early US Cellular Telephone Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 4069, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4069
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Bajari & Jeremy Fox & Stephen Ryan, 2008. "Evaluating wireless carrier consolidation using semiparametric demand estimation," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 299-338, December.
    2. Diaw, K. & Pouyet, J., 2004. "Competition, Incomplete Discrimination and Versioning," Discussion Paper 2004-69, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    3. Miravete, Eugenio, 2004. "Are all those Calling Plans Really Necessary? The Limited Gains From Complex Tariffs," CEPR Discussion Papers 4237, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Rahul Telang, 2004. "An Empirical Analysis of Cellular Voice and Data services," Working Papers 04-10, NET Institute.
    5. Liang, Julienne, 2015. "How fixed mobile usage interact? Does FTTH deployment influence the interaction?," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127157, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    6. Katja Seim & V. Brian Viard, 2011. "The Effect of Market Structure on Cellular Technology Adoption and Pricing," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 221-251, May.
    7. Eugenio J. Miravete, 2009. "Competing with Menus of Tariff Options," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(1), pages 188-205, March.
    8. Vidyanand Choudhary, 2010. "Use of Pricing Schemes for Differentiating Information Goods," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 78-92, March.
    9. STROUKAL Dominik, 2013. "Price Discrimination On The Marijuana Market: Schwag Or Endo?," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 8(2), pages 128-136, August.
    10. Bonatti, Alessandro, 2011. "Brand-specific tastes for quality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 562-575, September.
    11. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    12. Gil, Ricard & Hartmann, Wesley R., 2008. "Why Does Popcorn Cost So Much at the Movies? An Empirical Analysis of Metering Price Discrimination," Research Papers 1983, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    13. Liu, Yizao & Shen, Shu, 2012. "Price Discrimination with Asymmetric Firms: The Case of the U.S. Carbonated Soft Drinks Market," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124619, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Michaela Draganska & Sanjog Misra & Victor Aguirregabiria & Pat Bajari & Liran Einav & Paul Ellickson & Dan Horsky & Sridhar Narayanan & Yesim Orhun & Peter Reiss & Katja Seim & Vishal Singh & Raphael, 2008. "Discrete choice models of firms’ strategic decisions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 399-416, December.
    15. Khaled Diaw & Jérôme Pouyet, 2005. "Information, competition and (In) complete discrimination," Working Papers hal-00243025, HAL.
    16. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2006. "Paying Not to Go to the Gym," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 694-719, June.
    17. Mark Armstrong, 2005. "Recent Developments in the Economics of Price Discrimination," Industrial Organization 0511004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. McCalman, Phillip, 2018. "International trade, income distribution and welfare," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Eugenio J. Miravete & Lars-Hendrik Röller, 2003. "Estimating Markups under Nonlinear Pricing Competition," CIG Working Papers SP II 2003-21, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    20. Gao, Maija & Hyytinen, Ari & Toivanen, Otto, 2005. "Demand for Mobile Internet: Evidence from a Real-World Pricing Experiment," Discussion Papers 964, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    21. Ron Borzekowski & Raphael Thomadsen & Charles Taragin, 2009. "Competition and price discrimination in the market for mailing lists," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 147-179, June.
    22. Yao Luo, 2011. "Nonlinear Pricing with Product Customization in Mobile Service Industry," Working Papers 11-28, NET Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Estimation of equilibrium oligopoly models; Competitive non-linear pricing; Common agency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

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