IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v152y2021ics0301421520305255.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do LPG prices react to the entry of natural gas? Implications for competition policy

Author

Listed:
  • González, Aldo
  • Lagos, Vicente

Abstract

In developing countries, the penetration of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is still high, and hence the entry of Natural Gas (NG) networks coexists with the use of LPG by an important fraction of households. A relevant policy question is whether the degree of horizontal integration between NG and LPG providers has an influence on the level of retail prices. Using self-reported retail prices of the largest LPG provider in Chile during years 2013 and 2014, we estimate that the presence of a competing NG network generates an average decrease of LPG retail prices within the range [-4%,-2%]. This result suggests that the degree of horizontal integration between NG and LPG providers should matter, in particular for policy interventions such as merger control by competition authorities and the granting of concessions for deploying NG networks by sectoral regulators.

Suggested Citation

  • González, Aldo & Lagos, Vicente, 2021. "Do LPG prices react to the entry of natural gas? Implications for competition policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:152:y:2021:i:c:s0301421520305255
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421520305255
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111806?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark D. Manuszak & Charles C. Moul, 2008. "Prices And Endogenous Market Structure In Office Supply Superstores," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 94-112, March.
    2. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2014. "Measuring unilateral effects in partial horizontal acquisitions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 22-36.
    3. Mattia Nardotto & Tommaso Valletti & Frank Verboven, 2015. "Unbundling The Incumbent: Evidence From Uk Broadband," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 330-362, April.
    4. Christopher F Baum, 2006. "An Introduction to Modern Econometrics using Stata," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, number imeus, March.
    5. Stephen P. A. Brown & Mine K. Yucel, 2008. "What Drives Natural Gas Prices?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 45-60.
    6. Mu, Xiaoyi, 2007. "Weather, storage, and natural gas price dynamics: Fundamentals and volatility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 46-63, January.
    7. Berry, Steven T. & Waldfogel, Joel, 1999. "Public radio in the United States: does it correct market failure or cannibalize commercial stations?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 189-211, February.
    8. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    9. Aviv Nevo, 2000. "Mergers with Differentiated Products: The Case of the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(3), pages 395-421, Autumn.
    10. Hulshof, Daan & van der Maat, Jan-Pieter & Mulder, Machiel, 2016. "Market fundamentals, competition and natural-gas prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 480-491.
    11. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    12. Bresnahan, Timothy F & Reiss, Peter C, 1991. "Entry and Competition in Concentrated Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 977-1009, 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. Bourreau, Marc & Grzybowski, Lukasz & Hasbi, Maude, 2019. "Unbundling the incumbent and deployment of high-speed internet: Evidence from France," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Gabor Molnar & Scott J. Savage, 2017. "Market Structure and Broadband Internet Quality," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 73-104, March.
    3. Paul Ellickson & Sanjog Misra, 2012. "Enriching interactions: Incorporating outcome data into static discrete games," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, March.
    4. Mitsukuni Nishida, 2015. "Estimating a Model of Strategic Network Choice: The Convenience-Store Industry in Okinawa," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 20-38, January.
    5. Gregory S. Crawford & Nicola Pavanini & Fabiano Schivardi, 2018. "Asymmetric Information and Imperfect Competition in Lending Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1659-1701, July.
    6. Brito, Duarte & Ribeiro, Ricardo & Vasconcelos, Helder, 2018. "Quantifying the coordinated effects of partial horizontal acquisitions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 108-149.
    7. Byrne, David P. & Imai, Susumu & Jain, Neelam & Sarafidis, Vasilis, 2022. "Instrument-free identification and estimation of differentiated products models using cost data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 278-301.
    8. Gregory L. Rosston & Scott J. Savage & Bradley S. Wimmer, 2018. "Price competition in the market for business telecommunications services," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 81-104, August.
    9. Vishal Singh & Ting Zhu, 2008. "Pricing and Market Concentration in Oligopoly Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(6), pages 1020-1035, 11-12.
    10. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.
    11. Kerkemezos, Yannis & Pennings, Enrico & Karreman, Bas & van Reeven, Peran, 2023. "Price asymmetries and the path dependence of market power: Evidence from the U.S. airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Mattia Nardotto & Tommaso Valletti & Frank Verboven, 2015. "Unbundling The Incumbent: Evidence From Uk Broadband," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 330-362, April.
    13. Vélez-Velásquez, Juan Sebastián, 2019. "Merger effects with product complementarity: Evidence from Colombia’s telecommunications," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    14. 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.
    15. Claudio Lucarelli & Jeffrey Prince & Kosali Simon, 2012. "The Welfare Impact Of Reducing Choice In Medicare Part D: A Comparison Of Two Regulation Strategies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1155-1177, November.
    16. Haizhen Lin & Yijia Wang, 2012. "Competition and Price Discrimination in the Parking Garage Industry," Working Papers 2012-07, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    17. Beckert, Walter & Mazzarotto, Nicola, 2010. "Price-concentration analysis in merger cases with differentiated products," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 4, pages 1-23.
    18. Landgraf, Steven W., 2020. "Entry threats from municipal broadband Internet and impacts on private provider quality," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    19. Przemysław Jeziorski, 2014. "Estimation of cost efficiencies from mergers: application to US radio," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 816-846, December.
    20. Gaynor, Martin & Town, Robert J., 2011. "Competition in Health Care Markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 499-637, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural gas; Liquefied petroleum gas; Entry; Horizontal integration; Retail prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

    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:eee:enepol:v:152:y:2021:i:c:s0301421520305255. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.