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The Welfare Losses from Price Matching Policies

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Author Info
Aaron S. Edlin (Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research, Hoover Institution)
Eric R. Emch (Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley)

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Abstract

Several recent papers argue that price matching policies raise equilibrium prices. We add to this literature by considering potential welfare losses, which have two sources: Harberger triangles from high prices and Posner rectangles from over-entry. We compare markets with price matching and free entry to the traditional concerns of antitrust law, monopoly or cartel markets without entry. Price matching with entry leads to greater welfare losses than both monopoly and cartel in markets with a low ratio of fixed to marginal cost and low demand elasticity. We illustrate these general results using parameters from the wholesale gasoline and air travel markets, and relate our model to price matching on NASDAQ.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Law and Economics with number 9803001.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: 12 Mar 1998
Date of revision: 26 May 1998
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwple:9803001

Note: 38 pages. LaTeX format (.dvi), Six figures are embedded in the text.
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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Christie William G. & Huang Roger D., 1994. "Market Structures and Liquidity: A Transactions Data Study of Exchange Listings," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 300-326, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Severin Borenstein, 1991. "Selling Costs and Switching Costs: Explaining Retail Gasoline Margins," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 354-369, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Spence, Michael, 1976. "Product Selection, Fixed Costs, and Monopolistic Competition," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 217-35, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Datta, Shakun & Offenberg, Jennifer, 2003. "An Experimental Examination of Competitor-Based Price Matching Guarantees," MPRA Paper 575, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Oct 2006. [Downloadable!]
  2. Enrique Fatas & Juan Mañez, 2007. "Are low-price promises collusion guarantees? An experimental test of price matching policies," Spanish Economic Review, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 59-77, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. F. Javier Casado-Izaga, 2000. "Welfare effects of price-matching policies in a differentiated product market," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 24(2), pages 487-498, May. [Downloadable!]
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