IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/51238.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mergers and Product Quality: Evidence from the Airline Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Yongmin
  • Gayle, Philip

Abstract

Retrospective studies of horizontal mergers have focused on their price effects, leaving the important question of how mergers affect product quality largely unanswered. This paper empirically investigates this issue for two recent airline mergers: Delta/Northwest and Continental/United. Consistent with the theoretical premise that mergers improve coordination but diminish competitive pressure for quality provision, we find: (i) each merger is associated with a quality increase in markets where the merging firms did not compete pre-merger, but with a quality decrease in markets where they did; and (ii) the quality change can be a U-shaped function of the pre-merger competition intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Yongmin & Gayle, Philip, 2013. "Mergers and Product Quality: Evidence from the Airline Industry," MPRA Paper 51238, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:51238
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/51238/1/MPRA_paper_51238.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kwoka, John & Pollitt, Michael, 2010. "Do mergers improve efficiency? Evidence from restructuring the US electric power sector," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 645-656, November.
    2. Jeffrey T. Prince & Daniel H. Simon, 2017. "The Impact of Mergers on Quality Provision: Evidence from the Airline Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 336-362, June.
    3. Raquel Girvin, 2010. "Aircraft Noise Regulation, Airline Service Quality, and Social Welfare: the Monopoly Case," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 44(1), pages 17-35, January.
    4. Gayle, Philip G. & Thomas, Tyson, 2016. "Assessing firm behavior in carve-out markets: Evidence on the impact of carve-out policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 178-194.
    5. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    6. Dan Luo, 2014. "The Price Effects of the Delta/Northwest Airline Merger," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(1), pages 27-48, February.
    7. Gayle, Philip G. & Wu, Chi-Yin, 2013. "A re-examination of incumbents’ response to the threat of entry: Evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 119-130.
    8. Patrick Romano & David Balan, 2011. "A Retrospective Analysis of the Clinical Quality Effects of the Acquisition of Highland Park Hospital by Evanston Northwestern Healthcare," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 45-64.
    9. Nicholas G. Rupp & Tejashree Sayanak, 2008. "Do low cost carriers provide low quality service?," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 23(1), pages 3-20, June.
    10. Jan K. Brueckner, 2004. "Network Structure and Airline Scheduling," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 291-312, June.
    11. Gayle, Philip G. & Yimga, Jules O., 2018. "How much do consumers really value air travel on-time performance, and to what extent are airlines motivated to improve their on-time performance?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 31-41.
    12. Borenstein, Severin, 1990. "Airline Mergers, Airport Dominance, and Market Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 400-404, May.
    13. R. Färe & S. Grosskopf & R. C. Sickles, 2007. "Productivity? of US Airlines After Deregulation," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 41(1), pages 93-112, January.
    14. Jan Brueckner & Darin Lee & Ethan Singer, 2014. "City-Pairs Versus Airport-Pairs: A Market-Definition Methodology for the Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(1), pages 1-25, February.
    15. Yongmin Chen & Marius Schwartz, 2013. "Product Innovation Incentives: Monopoly vs. Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 513-528, September.
    16. Reiss, Peter C & Spiller, Pablo T, 1989. "Competition and Entry in Small Airline Markets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(2), pages 179-202, October.
    17. Harumi Ito & Darin Lee, 2007. "Domestic Code Sharing, Alliances, and Airfares in the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(2), pages 355-380.
    18. Philip G. Gayle & Xin Xie, 2018. "Entry Deterrence And Strategic Alliances," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1898-1924, July.
    19. Brueckner, Jan K. & Girvin, Raquel, 2008. "Airport noise regulation, airline service quality, and social welfare," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 19-37, January.
    20. Dunn, Abe, 2008. "Do low-quality products affect high-quality entry? Multiproduct firms and nonstop entry in airline markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1074-1089, September.
    21. Yongmin Chen & Scott J Savage, 2011. "The Effects of Competition on the Price for Cable Modem Internet Access," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 201-217, February.
    22. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    23. Michaela Draganska & Michael Mazzeo & Katja Seim, 2009. "Beyond plain vanilla: Modeling joint product assortment and pricing decisions," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 105-146, June.
    24. Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2003. "Network Effects, Congestion Externalities, and Air Traffic Delays: Or Why Not All Delays Are Evil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1194-1215, September.
    25. Jeffrey T. Prince & Daniel H. Simon, 2015. "Do Incumbents Improve Service Quality in Response to Entry? Evidence from Airlines' On-Time Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(2), pages 372-390, February.
    26. Philip G. Gayle, 2013. "On the Efficiency of Codeshare Contracts between Airlines: Is Double Marginalization Eliminated?," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 244-273, November.
    27. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    28. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken, 2008. "The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Selected Case Studies," NBER Working Papers 13859, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. James A. Brander & Anming Zhang, 1990. "Market Conduct in the Airline Industry: An Empirical Investigation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(4), pages 567-583, Winter.
    30. Peters, Craig, 2006. "Evaluating the Performance of Merger Simulation: Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(2), pages 627-649, October.
    31. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken, 2008. "The Effect of Mergers on Consumer Prices: Evidence from Five Selected Case Studies," NBER Working Papers 13859, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Ying Fan, 2013. "Ownership Consolidation and Product Characteristics: A Study of the US Daily Newspaper Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1598-1628, August.
    33. Kim, E Han & Singal, Vijay, 1993. "Mergers and Market Power: Evidence from the Airline Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 549-569, June.
    34. Ryan Mutter & Patrick Romano & Herbert Wong, 2011. "The Effects of US Hospital Consolidations on Hospital Quality," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 109-126.
    35. Chen, Yongmin & Gayle, Philip G., 2019. "Mergers and product quality: Evidence from the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 96-135.
    36. Brueckner, Jan K. & Luo, Dan, 2014. "Measuring strategic firm interaction in product-quality choices: The case of airline flight frequency," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 102-115.
    37. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    39. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    40. repec:pri:cepsud:160ashenfelter is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Aguirregabiria, Victor & Ho, Chun-Yu, 2012. "A dynamic oligopoly game of the US airline industry: Estimation and policy experiments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 168(1), pages 156-173.
    42. Philip G. Gayle, 2007. "Airline Code-Share Alliances and Their Competitive Effects," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 781-819.
    43. Ho, Vivian & Hamilton, Barton H., 2000. "Hospital mergers and acquisitions: does market consolidation harm patients?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 767-791, September.
    44. Michael Mazzeo, 2003. "Competition and Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(4), pages 275-296, June.
    45. Brueckner, Jan K. & Pai, Vivek, 2009. "Technological innovation in the airline industry: The impact of regional jets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 110-120, January.
    46. Matthew Weinberg, 2008. "The Price Effects Of Horizontal Mergers," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 433-447.
    47. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken & Michael Vita & Matthew Weinberg, 2011. "Retrospective Analysis of Hospital Mergers," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 5-16.
    48. Rose, Nancy L, 1990. "Profitability and Product Quality: Economic Determinants of Airline Safety Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 944-964, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yimga, Jules, 2022. "Code-sharing agreements and path quality in the US airline industry," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 369-385.
    2. Yimga, Jules, 2017. "Airline on-time performance and its effects on consumer choice behavior," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 12-25.
    3. Daniel Rijken & Vincent (V.A.C.) van den Berg, 2017. "The Impact of Airline Mergers on Quality: Why Do Different Mergers Have Such Different Effects?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-079/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Gayle, Philip G. & Yimga, Jules O., 2018. "How much do consumers really value air travel on-time performance, and to what extent are airlines motivated to improve their on-time performance?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 31-41.
    5. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Bet, Germán, 2021. "Product specification under a threat of entry: Evidence from Airlines’ departure times," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Yimga, Jules, 2020. "Price and marginal cost effects of on-time performance: Evidence from the US airline industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Federico Ciliberto & Emily E. Cook & Jonathan W. Williams, 2019. "Network Structure and Consolidation in the U.S. Airline Industry, 1990–2015," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(1), pages 3-36, February.
    9. Le Huubinh B. & Yimga Jules, 2019. "Market Power and Marginal Cost Effects in Competing Markets: Evidence from Airline Mergers," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 63-108, June.
    10. Carlton, Dennis & Israel, Mark & MacSwain, Ian & Orlov, Eugene, 2019. "Are legacy airline mergers pro- or anti-competitive? Evidence from recent U.S. airline mergers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 58-95.
    11. Gayle Philip G. & Wu Chi-Yin, 2014. "On the Extent to which the Presence of Intermediate-stop(s) Air Travel Products Influences the Pricing of Nonstop Air Travel Products," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 355-395, September.
    12. Somnath Das, 2019. "Effect of Merger on Market Price and Product Quality: American and US Airways," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 55(3), pages 339-374, November.
    13. Doi, Naoshi & Ohashi, Hiroshi, 2019. "Market structure and product quality: A study of the 2002 Japanese airline merger," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 158-193.
    14. Gayle, Philip G. & Brown, Dave, 2014. "Airline strategic alliances in overlapping markets: Should policymakers be concerned?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 243-256.
    15. Brueckner, Jan K. & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo, 2020. "Market structure and quality determination for complementary products: Alliances and service quality in the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Philip G. Gayle & Ying Lin, 2021. "Cost Pass‐Through In Commercial Aviation: Theory And Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 803-828, April.
    17. Fageda, Xavier & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo & Lin, Ming Hsin, 2020. "Vertical differentiation and airline alliances: The effect of antitrust immunity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Gayle, Philip G. & Xie, Xin, 2019. "Firms’ markup, cost, and price changes when policymakers permit collusion: Does antitrust immunity matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 680-707.
    19. Zhang, Anming & Czerny, Achim I., 2012. "Airports and airlines economics and policy: An interpretive review of recent research," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 15-34.
    20. Anming Zhang & Yimin Zhang & Joseph A. Clougherty, 2011. "Competition and Regulation in Air Transport," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 35, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mergers; Product Quality; Airlines;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:51238. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.