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The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Airline Markets

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  • Kevin R. Williams

Abstract

Airfares fluctuate due to demand shocks and intertemporal variation in willingness to pay. I estimate a model of dynamic airline pricing accounting for both sources of price adjustments using novel flight-level data. I use the model estimates to evaluate the welfare effects of dynamic airline pricing. Relative to uniform pricing, dynamic pricing benefits early-arriving, leisure consumers at the expense of late-arriving, business travelers. Although dynamic pricing ensures seat availability for business travelers, these consumers are then charged higher prices. When aggregated over markets, welfare is higher under dynamic pricing than under uniform pricing. The directionality of the welfare effect at the market level depends on whether dynamic price adjustments are mainly driven by demand shocks or by changes in the overall demand elasticity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "The Welfare Effects of Dynamic Pricing: Evidence from Airline Markets," NBER Working Papers 28989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28989
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    Cited by:

    1. Ali Hortacsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2312R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2022.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

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