IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v83y2024ics1043951x23001918.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Product line competition: An empirical analysis of the Chinese airline industry

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Qihong
  • Xie, Xin

Abstract

Consumer heterogeneity drives airlines to compete through product lines in the form of different flights and ticket policies (e.g., change fee) on the same flight. Using ticket-level data from a major Chinese online provider of travel services, we explore airlines' choices of product lines, as well as the resulting prices and price dispersion. We introduce a flight-level competition measure and find it more effective than typical route-level competition measures such as Herfindahl–Hirschman index (HHI) in predicting airlines' product line and pricing decisions. We leverage our disaggregated data to measure a carrier's price dispersion at the flight, route, and day level, respectively. For each level, we also decompose the overall price dispersion into a within-group component and a between-group component, respectively. Our results suggest that the effects of competition on price dispersion depend on the level it is measured at as well as the components. Ticket policies in our data are direct measures of quality, and we use this measure to study quality provision and dispersion.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Qihong & Xie, Xin, 2024. "Product line competition: An empirical analysis of the Chinese airline industry," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:83:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x23001918
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2023.102106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X23001918
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2023.102106?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan K. Brueckner & Darin N. Lee & Pierre M. Picard & Ethan Singer, 2015. "Product Unbundling in the Travel Industry: The Economics of Airline Bag Fees," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 457-484, September.
    2. Berry, Steven T, 1990. "Airport Presence as Product Differentiation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 394-399, May.
    3. Donggeun Kim & Myongjin Kim & Kerry Tan, 2021. "Tacit collusion and price dispersion in the presence of Southwest Airlines," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 3-32, July.
    4. Marco Alderighi & Marcella Nicolini & Claudio A. Piga, 2015. "Combined Effects of Capacity and Time on Fares: Insights from the Yield Management of a Low-Cost Airline," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 900-915, October.
    5. Steven T. Berry & Joel Waldfogel, 2001. "Do Mergers Increase Product Variety? Evidence from Radio Broadcasting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 1009-1025.
    6. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Michael D. Smith, 2003. "Consumer Surplus in the Digital Economy: Estimating the Value of Increased Product Variety at Online Booksellers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1580-1596, November.
    7. Giacomo Bonanno, 1987. "Location Choice, Product Proliferation and Entry Deterrence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(1), pages 37-45.
    8. Borenstein, Severin & Rose, Nancy L, 1994. "Competition and Price Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 653-683, August.
    9. Chen, Zhuo & Gotway Crawford, Carol A., 2012. "The role of geographic scale in testing the income inequality hypothesis as an explanation of health disparities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(6), pages 1022-1031.
    10. Kerry M. Tan, 2016. "Incumbent Response to Entry by Low‐Cost Carriers in the U.S. Airline Industry," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 874-892, January.
    11. Mian Dai & Qihong Liu & Konstantinos Serfes, 2014. "Is the Effect of Competition on Price Dispersion Nonmonotonic? Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 161-170, March.
    12. Myongjin Kim & Qihong Liu & Nicholas G. Rupp, 2023. "When Do Firms Offer Higher Product Quality? Evidence from the Allocation of Inflight Amenities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 149-177, March.
    13. Chen, Yongmin & Gayle, Philip G., 2019. "Mergers and product quality: Evidence from the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 96-135.
    14. Borenstein, Severin & Netz, Janet, 1999. "Why do all the flights leave at 8 am?: Competition and departure-time differentiation in airline markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 611-640, July.
    15. Jan K. Brueckner & Nichola J. Dyer & Pablo T. Spiller, 1992. "Fare Determination in Airline Hub-and-Spoke Networks," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 309-333, Autumn.
    16. 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.
    17. Bart J. Bronnenberg, 2015. "The provision of convenience and variety by the market," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(3), pages 480-498, September.
    18. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    19. Michaela Draganska & Dipak C. Jain, 2006. "Consumer Preferences and Product-Line Pricing Strategies: An Empirical Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 164-174, 03-04.
    20. 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.
    21. repec:wly:soecon:v:82:3:y:2016:p:874-892 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Steven A. Morrison & Clifford Winston, 1989. "Enhancing the Performance of the Deregulated Air Transportation System," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1989 Micr), pages 61-123.
    23. Kristopher S. Gerardi & Adam Hale Shapiro, 2009. "Does Competition Reduce Price Dispersion? New Evidence from the Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37, February.
    24. Lei He & Myongjin Kim & Qihong Liu, 2022. "Competitive response to unbundled services: An empirical look at Spirit Airlines," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 115-145, February.
    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. Myongjin Kim & Qihong Liu & Nicholas G. Rupp, 2023. "When Do Firms Offer Higher Product Quality? Evidence from the Allocation of Inflight Amenities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 149-177, March.
    2. Luttmann, Alexander & Ladd, Daniel, 2023. "Loyalty rewards and redemption behavior: Stylized facts for the U.S. airline industry," MPRA Paper 119214, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Bet, Germán, 2021. "Product specification under a threat of entry: Evidence from Airlines’ departure times," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Ciliberto, Federico & Schenone, Carola, 2012. "Bankruptcy and product-market competition: Evidence from the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 564-577.
    6. Morlotti, Chiara & Redondi, Renato, 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 on airlines’ price curves," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Yahua Zhang & David Round, 2009. "Policy Implications of the Effects of Concentration and Multimarket Contact in China’s Airline Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(4), pages 307-326, June.
    8. Philip G. Gayle & Ying Lin, 2021. "Cost Pass‐Through In Commercial Aviation: Theory And Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 803-828, April.
    9. Siegert, Caspar & Ulbricht, Robert, 2020. "Dynamic oligopoly pricing: Evidence from the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Kang Hua Cao & Betty Krier & Chia-Mei Liu & Brian McNamara & Jerrod Sharpe, 2017. "The Nonlinear Effects of Market Structure on Service Quality: Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(1), pages 43-73, August.
    11. Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, "undated". "Network Effects, Congestion Externalities, and Air Traffic Delays: Or Why All Delays Are Not Evil," Zell/Lurie Center Working Papers 393, Wharton School Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. van den Bogaard, Julien E. & Lijesen, Mark G., 2019. "Pricing of imperfect substitutes: The next flight is not the same flight," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Argentesi, Elena & Buccirossi, Paolo & Cervone, Roberto & Duso, Tomaso & Marrazzo, Alessia, 2021. "The effect of mergers on variety in grocery retailing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Van Dender, Kurt, 2007. "Determinants of fares and operating revenues at US airports," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 317-336, September.
    15. Brad Shrago, 2024. "The Spirit Effect: Ultra-Low Cost Carriers and Fare Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(4), pages 549-579, June.
    16. Fiore, Alexander & Zanzalari, Danielle, 2023. "The competitive effects of product unbundling: Evidence from U.S. airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    17. Silke J. Forbes & Renáta Kosová, 2023. "Does Competition Benefit Complements? Evidence from Airlines and Hotels," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4733-4752, August.
    18. Yannis Kerkemezos & Bas Karreman, 2020. "On the Benefits of Being Alone: Scheduling Changes, Intensity of Competition and Dynamic Airline Pricing," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-042/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    19. Ciliberto, Federico & Schenone, Carola, 2012. "Are the bankrupt skies the friendliest?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1217-1231.
    20. Mustafa U. Karakaplan & Levent Kutlu, 2019. "Estimating market power using a composed error model," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(4), pages 489-510, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product line competition; Ticket quality; Price discrimination; Chinese airlines;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

    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:chieco:v:83:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x23001918. 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/chieco .

    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.