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Market Conduct and Endogenous Lobbying: Evidence from the U.S. Mobile Telecommunications Industry

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  • Tomaso Duso
  • Astrid Jung

Abstract

This paper empirically explores the relationship between firms’ market behavior and their lobbying activities in a regulated market. In particular, we investigate whether the amount of contributions offered by cellular service providers to fund the campaigns of political parties affected market conduct in the early US mobile telecommunications industry. We structurally estimate market interactions while taking the potential endogeneity of lobbying decisions into account. Our results show that competition was more intense in those states where campaign contributions by the cellular industry have been higher. Furthermore, we reject the hypothesis that lobbying activities can be regarded as exogenous in the study of market conduct. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Marktverhalten und Endogenes Lobbying: Empirische Evidenz für die Mobilfunkindustrie der USA) Im diesem Beitrag wird der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Unternehmensverhalten in einem regulierten Produktmarkt und Lobbying-Aktivitäten empirisch untersucht. Insbesondere analysieren wir, ob die für Wahlkampagnezwecke ausgegebenen Parteispenden von US-amerikanischen Mobilfunkunternehmen Ende der achtziger Jahre einen Einfluss auf das Markverhalten hatten. Wir schätzen ein strukturiertes Produktmarktmodell unter Berücksichtigung der potentiellen Endogenität der Lobbying-Aktivitäten. Unsere Analyse zeigt, dass der Produktmarktwettbewerb in denjenigen U.S. Staaten intensiver war, in denen die Mobilfunkunternehmen höhere Parteispenden leisteten. Des Weiteren wird die Hypothese, dass die Lobbying-Aktivitäten exogen gegenüber dem Marktverhalten sind, statistisch abgelehnt.

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  • Tomaso Duso & Astrid Jung, 2002. "Market Conduct and Endogenous Lobbying: Evidence from the U.S. Mobile Telecommunications Industry," CIG Working Papers FS IV 02-35, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    • Handle: RePEc:wzb:wzebiv:fsiv02-35
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    Cited by:

    1. Tomaso Duso & Astrid Jung, 2012. "Product Market Competition and Lobbying Coordination in the U.S. Mobile Telecommunications Industry," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 177-201, June.
    2. Shirodkar, Vikrant & Rajwani, Tazeeb & Stadler, Christian & Hautz, Julia & Mayer, Michael C.J., 2022. "Corporate Political Activity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Effects of International and Product Diversification," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications
    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models

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