IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/resene/v62y2020ics0928765520300889.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing the regulatory threat hypothesis: Evidence from Sweden

Author

Listed:
  • Bonev, Petyo
  • Glachant, Matthieu
  • Söderberg, Magnus

Abstract

This study examines whether threat of stricter regulation influences the pricing behavior of firms. Using data on unregulated Swedish local district heating monopolists, we measure the threat level by the number of customer complaints about prices received by a national board. Exploiting a natural experiment, we find that firms reduce prices when customer complaints increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonev, Petyo & Glachant, Matthieu & Söderberg, Magnus, 2020. "Testing the regulatory threat hypothesis: Evidence from Sweden," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:62:y:2020:i:c:s0928765520300889
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2020.101182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928765520300889
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maxwell, John W & Lyon, Thomas P & Hackett, Steven C, 2000. "Self-Regulation and Social Welfare: The Political Economy of Corporate Environmentalism," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 583-617, October.
    2. Anderson, T W & Kunitomo, Naoto & Sawa, Takamitsu, 1982. "Evaluation of the Distribution Function of the Limited Information Maximum Likelihood Estimator," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1009-1027, July.
    3. Botterud, Audun & Kristiansen, Tarjei & Ilic, Marija D., 2010. "The relationship between spot and futures prices in the Nord Pool electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 967-978, September.
    4. Harding, Matthew & Lamarche, Carlos, 2009. "A quantile regression approach for estimating panel data models using instrumental variables," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 133-135, September.
    5. Caroline Elliott & Yingqi Wei, 2010. "The Impact of Regulatory Intervention in the UK Store Card Industry," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 87-98.
    6. Stango, Victor, 2003. "Strategic Responses to Regulatory Threat in the Credit Card Market," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 427-452, October.
    7. Brannlund, Runar & Ghalwash, Tarek & Nordstrom, Jonas, 2007. "Increased energy efficiency and the rebound effect: Effects on consumption and emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Driffield, Nigel & Ioannidis, Christos, 2000. "Effectiveness and effects of attempts to regulate the UK petrol industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 369-381, June.
    9. Catherine D. Wolfram, 1999. "Measuring Duopoly Power in the British Electricity Spot Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 805-826, September.
    10. Mark Armstrong & David E.M. Sappington, 2006. "Regulation, Competition and Liberalization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 325-366, June.
    11. Stephen Erfle & Henry McMillan, 1990. "Media, Political Pressure, and the Firm: The Case of Petroleum Pricing in the Late 1970s," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 105(1), pages 115-134.
    12. Sawa, Takamitsu, 1972. "Finite-Sample Properties of the k-Class Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 40(4), pages 653-680, July.
    13. Acutt, Melinda & Elliott, Caroline & Robinson, Terry, 2001. "Credible regulatory threats," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 911-916, September.
    14. Darryl Biggar & Matthieu Glachant & Magnus Söderberg, 2018. "Monopoly regulation when customers need to make sunk investments: evidence from the Swedish district heating sector," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 14-40, August.
    15. Amihai Glazer & Henry McMillan, 1992. "Pricing by the Firm Under Regulatory Threat," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 107(3), pages 1089-1099.
    16. Caroline Elliott & Yingqi Wei & Pamela Lenton, 2010. "The Effect Of Government Policy On Tobacco Advertising Strategies," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 243-258, July.
    17. Caroline Elliott & Palitha Konara & Yingqi Wei, 2016. "Competition, Cooperation and Regulatory Intervention Impacts on Independent School Fees," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 243-262, July.
    18. repec:rje:randje:v:37:y:2006:2:p:324-340 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, September.
    20. Lutz, Stefan & Lyon, Thomas P & Maxwell, John W, 1998. "Strategic Quality Choice with Minimum Quality Standards," CEPR Discussion Papers 1793, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    21. Sara Fisher Ellison & Catherine Wolfram, 2006. "Coordinating on lower prices: pharmaceutical pricing under political pressure," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 324-340, June.
    22. Werner Antweiler, 2003. "How Effective Is Green Regulatory Threat?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 436-441, May.
    23. Olmstead, Alan L & Rhode, Paul, 1985. "Rationing without Government: The West Coast Gas Famine of 1920," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1044-1055, December.
    24. Block, Michael K & Feinstein, Jonathan S, 1986. "The Spillover Effect of Antitrust Enforcement," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 68(1), pages 122-131, February.
    25. Peltzman, Sam, 1976. "Toward a More General Theory of Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 211-240, August.
    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. Bonev, Petyo & Glachant, Matthieu & Söderberg, Magnus, 2018. "A Mechanism for Institutionalised Threat of Regulation: Evidence from the Swedish District Heating Market," Economics Working Paper Series 1805, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    2. Magnus Söderberg & Makoto Tanaka, 2012. "Spatial price homogeneity as a mechanism to reduce the threat of regulatory intervention in locally monopolistic sectors," Working Papers hal-00659458, HAL.
    3. Makoto Tanaka, 2011. "The Effects of Uncertain Divestiture as Regulatory Threat," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 385-397, December.
    4. Chatterjee, Chirantan & Kubo, Kensuke & Pingali, Viswanath, 2015. "The consumer welfare implications of governmental policies and firm strategy in markets for medicines," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 255-273.
    5. Saglam, Ismail, 2018. "Self-Regulation Under Asymmetric Cost Information," MPRA Paper 87151, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Bruno De Borger & Amihai Glazer, 2015. "Inducing political action by workers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(4), pages 1117-1144, April.
    7. Christian Jaag & Urs Trinkner, 2011. "A General Framework for Regulation and Liberalization in Network Industries," Chapters, in: Matthias Finger & Rolf W. Künneke (ed.), International Handbook of Network Industries, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Bonev, Petyo & Matthieu Glachant & Magnus Söderberg, 2020. "Implicit Yardstick Competition," Economics Working Paper Series 2009, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    9. Zach Raff & Jason M. Walter, 2020. "Regulatory Avoidance and Spillover: The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Emissions at Coal-Fired Power Plants," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(3), pages 387-420, March.
    10. Lyon, Thomas P. & Maxwell, John W., 2003. "Self-regulation, taxation and public voluntary environmental agreements," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1453-1486, August.
    11. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.
    12. Mireille Chiroleu‐Assouline & Thomas P. Lyon, 2020. "Merchants of doubt: Corporate political action when NGO credibility is uncertain," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 439-461, April.
    13. Winston, Clifford & Yan, Jia, 2011. "Can privatization of U.S. highways improve motorists' welfare?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 993-1005.
    14. Dementiev, Andrei & Han, Hyen Jin, 2020. "A theory of deregulation in public transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    15. Yvrande-Billon, Anne & Menard, Claude, 2005. "Institutional constraints and organizational changes: the case of the British rail reform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 675-699, April.
    16. Spiller, Pablo T., 2013. "Transaction cost regulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 232-242.
    17. Robert Dur & Amihai Glazer, 2004. "Optimal Incentive Contracts when Workers envy their Boss," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-046/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 13 Jun 2006.
    18. Justine Hastings & Ali Hortaçsu & Chad Syverson, 2017. "Sales Force and Competition in Financial Product Markets: The Case of Mexico's Social Security Privatization," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85(6), pages 1723-1761, November.
    19. Brunekreeft, G., 2002. "Regulatory Threat in Vertically Related Markets; The Case of German Electricity," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0228, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    20. Werner Antweiler, 2003. "How Effective Is Green Regulatory Threat?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 436-441, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regulatory threat; Monopoly; price setting; spatial interaction; natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation

    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:resene:v:62:y:2020:i:c:s0928765520300889. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Haili He). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505569 .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.