IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pen/papers/20-022.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Competition and Quality: Evidence from High-Speed Railways and Airlines

Author

Listed:
  • Hanming Fang

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Long Wang

    (ShanghaiTech University)

  • Yang Yang

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

The entry of High-Speed Railways (HSR) represents a disruptive competition to air-lines, particularly for short- to medium-distance journeys. Utilizing a unique dataset that contains the details of all ?ights departing from Beijing to 113 domestic desti-nations in China since January 2009, we employ a di?erence-in-di?erences approach to examine the e?ects of HSR entry on the quality of service provided by airlines as proxied by their on-time performance, and to identify the channels through which competition leads to quality improvement. We document two main ?ndings. First, the competition from the entry of HSR leads to signi?cant reductions in the mean and variance of travel delays on the a?ected airline routes. Second, the reductions in departure delays–which are controlled mostly by airlines, and the duration of taxi-in time–which are controlled mostly by destination airports, are identi?ed as the main sources of the improvement in the airlines’ on-time performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanming Fang & Long Wang & Yang Yang, 2020. "Competition and Quality: Evidence from High-Speed Railways and Airlines," PIER Working Paper Archive 20-022, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:pen:papers:20-022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/system/files/working-papers/20-022%20PIER%20Paper%20Submission.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dave Donaldson, 2018. "Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 899-934, April.
    2. Aamir Rafique Hashmi, 2013. "Competition and Innovation: The Inverted-U Relationship Revisited," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1653-1668, December.
    3. Levinson, David M., 2012. "Accessibility impacts of high-speed rail," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 288-291.
    4. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    5. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2012. "Urban Growth and Transportation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(4), pages 1407-1440.
    6. Yang, Hangjun & Zhang, Anming, 2012. "Effects of high-speed rail and air transport competition on prices, profits and welfare," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1322-1333.
    7. Chen, Chia-Lin, 2012. "Reshaping Chinese space-economy through high-speed trains: opportunities and challenges," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 312-316.
    8. Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633.
    9. Gayle, Philip G. & Yimga, Jules O., 2018. "How much do consumers really value air travel on-time performance, and to what extent are airlines motivated to improve their on-time performance?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 31-41.
    10. Mary Amiti & Amit K. Khandelwal, 2013. "Import Competition and Quality Upgrading," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 476-490, May.
    11. Paolo Buccirossi & Lorenzo Ciari & Tomaso Duso & Giancarlo Spagnolo & Cristiana Vitale, 2013. "Competition Policy and Productivity Growth: An Empirical Assessment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1324-1336, October.
    12. Yu Qin, 2017. "‘No county left behind?’ The distributional impact of high-speed rail upgrades in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 489-520.
    13. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Loren Brandt & J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner & Qinghua Zhang, 2017. "Roads, Railroads, and Decentralization of Chinese Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 435-448, July.
    14. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    15. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    16. Thomas J. Holmes & James A. Schmitz, 2010. "Competition and Productivity: A Review of Evidence," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 619-642, September.
    17. Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2003. "Network Effects, Congestion Externalities, and Air Traffic Delays: Or Why Not All Delays Are Evil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1194-1215, September.
    18. Jeffrey T. Prince & Daniel H. Simon, 2015. "Do Incumbents Improve Service Quality in Response to Entry? Evidence from Airlines' On-Time Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(2), pages 372-390, February.
    19. Albalate, Daniel & Bel, Germà & Fageda, Xavier, 2015. "Competition and cooperation between high-speed rail and air transportation services in Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 166-174.
    20. Cornaggia, Jess & Mao, Yifei & Tian, Xuan & Wolfe, Brian, 2015. "Does banking competition affect innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 189-209.
    21. Tierney, Sean, 2012. "High-speed rail, the knowledge economy and the next growth wave," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 285-287.
    22. Adler, Nicole & Pels, Eric & Nash, Chris, 2010. "High-speed rail and air transport competition: Game engineering as tool for cost-benefit analysis," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 812-833, August.
    23. David A. Matsa, 2011. "Competition and Product Quality in the Supermarket Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1539-1591.
    24. James A. Schmitz Jr., 2005. "What Determines Productivity? Lessons from the Dramatic Recovery of the U.S. and Canadian Iron Ore Industries Following Their Early 1980s Crisis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(3), pages 582-625, June.
    25. Nickell, Stephen J, 1996. "Competition and Corporate Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 724-746, August.
    26. Michael Mazzeo, 2003. "Competition and Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(4), pages 275-296, June.
    27. Fu, Xiaowen & Zhang, Anming & Lei, Zheng, 2012. "Will China’s airline industry survive the entry of high-speed rail?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 13-25.
    28. Nathaniel Baum-Snow, 2007. "Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 775-805.
    29. Greenfield, Daniel, 2014. "Competition and service quality: New evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 80-89.
    30. Behrens, Christiaan & Pels, Eric, 2012. "Intermodal competition in the London–Paris passenger market: High-Speed Rail and air transport," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 278-288.
    31. Lin, Yatang, 2017. "Travel costs and urban specialization patterns: Evidence from China’s high speed railway system," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 98-123.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rauch, Ferdinand & Marczinek, Max & Maurer, Stephan, 2022. "Trade Persistence and Trader Identity - Evidence from the Demise of the Hanseatic League," CEPR Discussion Papers 16957, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Kang, Meiling & Li, Yucheng & Zhao, Zhongkuang & Song, Min & Yi, Jun, 2023. "Travel costs and inter-city collaborative innovation: Evidence of high-speed railway in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 286-302.
    3. Ren, Junqiushi, 2023. "Financial conditions and incumbent quality responses to entry: Evidence from airlines' on-time performance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Yanyan Gao & Yongqing Nan & Shunfeng Song, 2022. "High‐speed rail and city tourism: Evidence from Tencent migration big data on two Chinese golden weeks," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 1012-1036, September.
    5. Jiang, Changmin & Wang, Kun & Wang, Qiang & Yang, Hangjun, 2022. "The Impact of High-Speed Rail Competition on Airline On-Time Performance," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 109-127.
    6. Wu, Shuping & Han, Dan, 2022. "Accessibility of high-speed rail (HSR) stations and HSR–air competition: Evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 262-284.
    7. Pomykała, Agata & Engelhardt, Juliusz, 2023. "Concepts of construction of high-speed rail in Poland in context to the European high-speed rail networks," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    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. Yatang Lin & Yu Qin & Johan Sulaeman & Jubo Yan & Jialiang Zhang, 2023. "Expanding Footprints: The Impact of Passenger Transportation on Corporate Locations," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1119-1154.
    2. Meng, Xuechen & Lin, Shanlang & Zhu, Xiaochuan, 2018. "The resource redistribution effect of high-speed rail stations on the economic growth of neighbouring regions: Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 178-191.
    3. Chen, Zhenhua, 2023. "Socioeconomic Impacts of high-speed rail: A bibliometric analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Su, Min & Luan, Weixin & Fu, Xiaowen & Yang, Zaili & Zhang, Rui, 2020. "The competition effects of low-cost carriers and high-speed rail on the Chinese aviation market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 37-46.
    5. Wan, Yulai & Ha, Hun-Koo & Yoshida, Yuichiro & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "Airlines’ reaction to high-speed rail entries: Empirical study of the Northeast Asian market," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 532-557.
    6. Liaoliao Duan & Dongxiao Niu & Weizeng Sun & Siqi Zheng, 2021. "Transportation infrastructure and capital mobility: evidence from China’s high-speed railways," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(3), pages 617-648, December.
    7. Zhang, Anming & Wan, Yulai & Yang, Hangjun, 2019. "Impacts of high-speed rail on airlines, airports and regional economies: A survey of recent research," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-19.
    8. Wang, Yixiao & Pels, Eric & Teunter, Ruud H. & Sun, Luoyi & Wu, Jianhong, 2023. "Railway liberalization, airport congestion toll, and infrastructure pricing: Modelling and numerical analysis for European and Chinese markets," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Xiao Ke & Yuanke Yan, 2021. "Can proactive fiscal policy achieve the goal of “Beyond Keynesianism”?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 1078-1103, May.
    10. Diao, Mi, 2018. "Does growth follow the rail? The potential impact of high-speed rail on the economic geography of China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 279-290.
    11. David C. Maré & Richard Fabling, 2019. "Competition and productivity: Do commonly used metrics suggest a relationship?," Working Papers 19_16, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    12. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Keola, Souknilanh & Sudsawasd, Sasatra & Yamanouchi, Kenta, 2022. "Impacts of an international bridge on households: Evidence from Thailand," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Xu, Yang & Yang, Xi, 2021. "Access to ports and the welfare gains from domestic transportation infrastructure," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    14. Roucolle, Chantal & Seregina, Tatiana & Urdanoz, Miguel, 2020. "Network development and excess travel time," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 139-152.
    15. Dong, Xiaofang, 2018. "High-speed railway and urban sectoral employment in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 603-621.
    16. Capozza, Claudia, 2016. "The effect of rail travel time on airline fares: First evidence from the Italian passenger market," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 18-24.
    17. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2015. "Would competition between air transport and high-speed rail benefit environment and social welfare?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 118-137.
    18. Koster, Hans & Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2021. "High-speed Rail and the Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity: Evidence from Japan's Shinkansen," CEPR Discussion Papers 15771, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Zhu, Feng & Wu, Xu & Cao, Chengxuan, 2021. "High-speed rail and air transport competition under high flight delay conditions in China: A case study of the Beijing-Shanghai corridor," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Ciani, Emanuele & de Blasio, Guido & Poy, Samuele, 2022. "A freeway to prosperity? Evidence from Calabria, South of Italy," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition; Quality; Transportation; Airlines; High-speed Rail; On-time Performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pen:papers:20-022. 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: Administrator (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deupaus.html .

    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.