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Asymmetric duopoly in space - what policies work?

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  • Fay Dunkerley
  • André de Palma
  • Stef Proost

Abstract

In this paper we study the problem of a city with access to two subcentres selling a differentiated product. The first subcentre has low free flow transport costs but is easily congested (near city centre, access by road). The second one has higher free flow transport costs but is less prone to congestion (ample public transport capacity, parking etc.). Both subcentres need to attract customers and employees by offering prices and wages that are sufficiently attractive to cover their fixed costs. In the absence of any government regulation, there will be an asymmetric duopoly game that can be solved for a Nash equilibrium in prices and wages offered by the two subcentres. This solution is typically characterised by excessive congestion for the nearby subcentre. We study the welfare effects of a number of stylised policies by setting up a general model and illustrating the model using competition between airports as an example. The first stylised policy is to extend the congested road to subcentre 1. This policy will not necessarily lead to less congestion as more customers will be attracted by the lower transport costs. The second policy option is to add congestion pricing (or parking pricing (etc.) for the congested subcentre. This will decrease its profit margin and attract more customers. The third policy is acceptable for politicians: providing a direct subsidy to the remote subcentre, reducing its marginal costs. This policy will again ease the congestion problem for the nearby subcentre but will do this in a very costly way.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën in its series Center for Economic Studies - Discussion papers with number ces0610.

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Date of creation: Mar 2006
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Handle: RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces0610

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Keywords: duopoly; imperfect competition; congestion; general equilibrium; airport competition;

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References

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  1. Andre de Palma & Dunkerley Fay, 2006. "Trip Chaining: Who Wins Who Loses?," Energy, Transport and Environment Working Papers Series ete0605, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Energy, Transport and Environment.
  2. Andre de Palma & Stef Proost, 2004. "Imperfect competition and congestion in the City," Energy, Transport and Environment Working Papers Series ete0409, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Energy, Transport and Environment.
  3. Thorsten Fischer & David R. Kamerschen, 2003. "Price-Cost Margins in the US Airline Industry using a Conjectural Variation Approach," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, London School of Economics and University of Bath, vol. 37(2), pages 227-259, May.
  4. AndrÊ de Palma & Robin Lindsey, 2000. "Private toll roads: Competition under various ownership regimes," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 13-35.
  5. Pels, Eric & Verhoef, Erik T., 2004. "The economics of airport congestion pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 257-277, March.
  6. Jan K. Brueckner, 2002. "Airport Congestion When Carriers Have Market Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1357-1375, December.
  7. Andre de Palma & Stef Proost & Fay Dunkerley, 2004. "Imperfect Competition and Congestion in a City with asymmetric subcenters," Energy, Transport and Environment Working Papers Series ete0411, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Energy, Transport and Environment.
  8. Kurt Van Dender, 2005. "Duopoly prices under congested access," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 343-362.
  9. Van Dender, Kurt, 2005. "Duopoly Prices Under Congested Access," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt7xw8c3fn, University of California Transportation Center.
  10. Pels, Eric & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2003. "Access to and competition between airports: a case study for the San Francisco Bay area," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 71-83, January.
  11. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin, 1997. "Concession revenue and optimal airport pricing," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 287-296, December.
  12. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-79, March.
  13. Lambertini, Luca, 1997. "Optimal Fiscal Regime in a Spatial Duopoly," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 407-420, May.
  14. Hansen, Mark M. & Gillen, David & Djafarian-Tehrani, Reza, 2001. "Aviation infrastructure performance and airline cost: a statistical cost estimation approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-23, March.
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