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Making Friends with Your Neighbors? Agglomeration and Tacit Collusion in The Lodging Industry

Author

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  • Li Gan

    (Texas A&M University and NBER)

  • Manuel A. Hernandez

    (IFPRI)

Abstract

Agglomeration is a location pattern frequently observed in service industries such as hotels. This paper empirically examines whether agglomeration facilitates tacit collusion in the lodging industry using a quarterly data set of hotels in Texas. We jointly model a price and occupancy rate equation under a switching regression model to identify a collusive and noncollusive regime. The estimation results indicate that clustered hotels have a higher probability of being in the potential collusive regime than isolated properties in the same town. The identification of a collusive regime is also consistent with other factors considered to affect the sustainability of tacit collusion. © 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Gan & Manuel A. Hernandez, 2013. "Making Friends with Your Neighbors? Agglomeration and Tacit Collusion in The Lodging Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 1002-1017, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:95:y:2013:i:3:p:1002-1017
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    Cited by:

    1. Li Gan & Manuel A. Hernandez & Yanyan Liu, 2018. "Group Lending With Heterogeneous Types," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 895-913, April.
    2. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2014. "Output growth and prices of establishments in the Swedish lodging industry," ERSA conference papers ersa14p360, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Akio Kawasaki & Takao Ohkawa & Makoto Okamura, 2019. "Inter-group competition through joint marketing efforts and intra-group Cournot competition," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 203-224, December.
    4. Roberto Gabriele & Enrico Tundis, 2015. "Contesto regionale, struttura economica e impatto delle politiche regionali: il caso degli alberghi in Trentino," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3 Suppl.), pages 37-59.
    5. Roberto Gabriele, & Enrico Tundis, & Enrico Zaninotto, 2015. "Public Subsidies and Development of Hotel Industry: Evidence from a Place-based Policy," DEM Discussion Papers 2015/10, Department of Economics and Management.
    6. Gan, Li & Hernandez, Manuel A. & Zhang, Shuoxun, 2021. "Insurance or deliberate use of the bankruptcy law for financial gain? Testing for heterogeneous filing behaviors in the United States," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    7. Cappenberg, Christina, 2013. "Staatliche Förderung regionaler Unternehmensnetzwerke: Legitimation nationaler Clusterpolitik," Arbeitspapiere 140, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    8. Shohei Kurata & Yasuo Ohe, 2020. "Competitive Structure of Accommodations in a Traditional Japanese Hot Springs Tourism Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Juan L Eugenio-Martin & José M Cazorla-Artiles & Christian González-Martel, 2019. "On the determinants of Airbnb location and its spatial distribution," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(8), pages 1224-1244, December.
    10. Wyatt J. Brooks & Joseph P. Kaboski & Yao Amber Li, 2016. "Growth Policy, Agglomeration, and (the Lack of) Competition," NBER Working Papers 22947, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Diego Escobari & Manuel A. Hernandez, 2019. "Separating Between Unobserved Consumer Types: Evidence From Airlines," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 1215-1230, April.
    12. Melis, Giuseppe & Piga, Claudio A, 2016. "Are all online hotel prices created dynamic? An empirical assessment," MPRA Paper 75896, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Xi Wu & Li Gan, 2013. "Multiple Dimensions of Private Information in Life Insurance Markets," NBER Working Papers 19629, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Beta Septi Iryani & Muhammad Halley Yudhistira & Khoirunurrofik Khoirunurrofik & Djoni Hartono, 2024. "Conformity or differentiation? The effect of competitive strategy on hotel performance," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 522-538, March.
    15. Augusto Voltes-Dorta & Federico Inchausti-Sintes, 2021. "The spatial and quality dimensions of Airbnb markets," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(4), pages 688-702, June.
    16. Ibrahim Mohammed & Basak Denizci Guillet & Rob Law, 2019. "Modeling dynamic price dispersion of hotel rooms in a spatially agglomerated tourism city for weekend and midweek stays," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(8), pages 1245-1264, December.
    17. Escobari, Diego & Serrano, Alejandro, 2015. "Reducing Asymmetric Information in Venture Capital Backed IPOs," MPRA Paper 68140, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Alemayehu, Fikru K. & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Landazuri Tveteraas, Sigbjørn, 2022. "Estimation of staff use efficiency: Evidence from the hospitality industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. Douglas MacKinnon & Martin Pavlovič, 2023. "Proprietary Varieties’ Influence on Economics and Competitiveness in Land Use within the Hop Industry," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-12, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    collusion; agglomeration; lodging industry; switching regression model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • C3 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables

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