IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/regeco/v64y2017icp117-136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can competition keep the restrooms clean? Price, quality and spatial competition

Author

Listed:
  • Pennerstorfer, Dieter

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of competition on price and product quality among Austrian camping sites, a market characterized by both horizontal (spatial) and vertical product differentiation. Theoretically, the effect of competition on quality is ambiguous and depends on the degree of cost substitutability between output and quality. Estimating a system of equations shows that intense competition has a positive impact on product quality and a negative effect on prices (conditional on quality). As high quality is associated with high prices, the total effect of competition on prices is rather small.

Suggested Citation

  • Pennerstorfer, Dieter, 2017. "Can competition keep the restrooms clean? Price, quality and spatial competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 117-136.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:117-136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.02.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166046216300424
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.02.005?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. Hugh Gravelle & Anthony Scott & Peter Sivey & Jongsay Yong, 2016. "Competition, prices and quality in the market for physician consultations," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 135-169, March.
    2. Bray,Francesca & Coclanis,Peter A. & Fields-Black,Edda L. & Schäfer,Dagmar (ed.), 2017. "Rice," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107622371, October.
    3. Brekke, Kurt R. & Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2010. "Price and quality in spatial competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 471-480, November.
    4. Elizalde, Javier, 2013. "Competition in multiple characteristics: An empirical test of location equilibrium," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 938-950.
    5. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(4), pages 465-506, December.
    6. Paolo Roma & Giuseppe Di Martino & Giovanni Perrone, 2013. "What to show on the wine labels: a hedonic analysis of price drivers of Sicilian wines," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(19), pages 2765-2778, July.
    7. Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2009. "Spatial price competition in retail gasoline markets: evidence from Austria," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1), pages 133-158, March.
    8. Veendorp, E. C. H. & Majeed, Anjum, 1995. "Differentiation in a two-dimensional market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 75-83, February.
    9. Martin Gaynor, "undated". "What Do We Know About Competition and Quality in Health Care Markets?," GSIA Working Papers 2006-E62, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    10. Lee Mobley & H. E. Frech & Luc Anselin, 2009. "Spatial Interaction, Spatial Multipliers and Hospital Competition," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17.
    11. Tabuchi, Takatoshi, 1994. "Two-stage two-dimensional spatial competition between two firms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 207-227, April.
    12. Barron, John M. & Taylor, Beck A. & Umbeck, John R., 2004. "Number of sellers, average prices, and price dispersion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1041-1066, November.
    13. Irmen, Andreas & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1998. "Competition in Multi-characteristics Spaces: Hotelling Was Almost Right," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 76-102, January.
    14. David Andersson, 2010. "Hotel attributes and hedonic prices: an analysis of internet-based transactions in Singapore’s market for hotel rooms," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 44(2), pages 229-240, April.
    15. Eric Giraud-Héraud & Hakim Hammoudi & Mahdi Mokrane, 2003. "Multiproduct firm behaviour in a differentiated market," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 41-61, February.
    16. Ying Fan, 2013. "Ownership Consolidation and Product Characteristics: A Study of the US Daily Newspaper Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1598-1628, August.
    17. Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph, 2013. "Spatial clustering and market power: Evidence from the retail gasoline market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 661-675.
    18. William M. Emmons III & Robin A. Prager, 1997. "The Effects of Market Structure and Ownership on Prices and Service Offerings in the U.S. Cable Television Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(4), pages 732-750, Winter.
    19. Steven C. Salop, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition with Outside Goods," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 141-156, Spring.
    20. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    21. 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.
    22. Luigi Benfratello & Massimiliano Piacenza & Stefano Sacchetto, 2009. "Taste or reputation: what drives market prices in the wine industry? Estimation of a hedonic model for Italian premium wines," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(17), pages 2197-2209.
    23. 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.
    24. Ambarish Chandra & Mariano Tappata, 2011. "Consumer search and dynamic price dispersion: an application to gasoline markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(4), pages 681-704, December.
    25. Gravelle, Hugh, 1999. "Capitation contracts: access and quality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 315-340, June.
    26. Firgo, Matthias & Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph R., 2015. "Centrality and pricing in spatially differentiated markets: The case of gasoline," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 81-90.
    27. Economides, Nicholas, 1993. "Quality variations in the circular model of variety-differentiated products," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 235-257, April.
    28. Varian, Hal R, 1980. "A Model of Sales," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(4), pages 651-659, September.
    29. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    30. Raphael Thomadsen, 2005. "The Effect of Ownership Structure on Prices in Geographically Differentiated Industries," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(4), pages 908-929, Winter.
    31. Combris, Pierre & Lecocq, Sebastien & Visser, Michael, 1997. "Estimation for a Hedonic Price Equation for Bordeaux Wine: Does Quality Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 390-402, March.
    32. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    33. Stahl, Dale O, II, 1989. "Oligopolistic Pricing with Sequential Consumer Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 700-712, September.
    34. Domberger, Simon & Hall, Christine & Li, Eric Ah Lik, 1995. "The Determinants of Price and Quality in Competitively Tendered Contracts," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1454-1470, November.
    35. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, October.
    36. Matthew Lewis, 2008. "Price Dispersion And Competition With Differentiated Sellers," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 654-678, September.
    37. Dakshina De Silva & Caroline Elliott & Robert Simmons, 2013. "Restaurant wars," Working Papers 44312700, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    38. 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.
    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. Luo, Jinjing & Moschini, GianCarlo, 2019. "Pass-through of the policy-induced E85 subsidy: Insights from Hotelling's model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Gu, Yiquan & Rasch, Alexander & Wenzel, Tobias, 2022. "Consumer salience and quality provision in (un)regulated public service markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Firgo, Matthias & Kügler, Agnes, 2018. "Cooperative pricing in spatially differentiated markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 51-67.
    4. Ying Fan & Charles Ka Yui Leung & Zan Yang, 2022. "Financial conditions, local competition, and local market leaders: The case of real estate developers," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 131-193, May.
    5. Josh Matti, 2020. "Reaching for the Stars: Spatial Competition and Consumer Reviews," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 48(3), pages 339-353, September.
    6. Chan Wang & Pu‐yan Nie, 2020. "Retail competition using free shopping shuttle bus strategies," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 1010-1019, September.
    7. Armel Jacques, 2020. "Le contrôle des concentrations dans le secteur de la distribution: application au projet de rachat de Vindémia par GBH," Post-Print hal-03546563, HAL.

    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. Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2014. "Price and Quality Competition in Spatial Markets. The Case of Camping Sites," WIFO Working Papers 466, WIFO.
    2. Firgo, Matthias & Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph R., 2015. "Centrality and pricing in spatially differentiated markets: The case of gasoline," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 81-90.
    3. Firgo, Matthias & Kügler, Agnes, 2018. "Cooperative pricing in spatially differentiated markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 51-67.
    4. Kurt R. Brekke & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2017. "Horizontal mergers and product quality," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 1063-1103, November.
    5. Brekke, Kurt R. & Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2010. "Price and quality in spatial competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 471-480, November.
    6. Franz Hackl & Michael Hölzl-Leitner & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2021. "How to Measure Product Differentiation," Economics working papers 2021-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    7. Bernd Jost, 2012. "Price Dispersion, Search Costs and Spatial Competition: Evidence from the Austrian Retail Gasoline Market," NEURUS papers neurusp166, NEURUS - Network of European and US Regional and Urban Studies.
    8. Pennerstorfer, Dieter & Weiss, Christoph, 2013. "Spatial clustering and market power: Evidence from the retail gasoline market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 661-675.
    9. A. Yeşim Orhun & Sriram Venkataraman & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2016. "Impact of Competition on Product Decisions: Movie Choices of Exhibitors," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 73-92, January.
    10. Joshua Sherman & Avi Weiss, 2017. "On Fruitful And Futile Tests Of The Relationship Between Search And Price Dispersion," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1898-1918, October.
    11. Noel, Michael D. & Qiang, Hongjie, 2019. "The role of information in retail gasoline price dispersion," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 173-187.
    12. Taehwan Kim, 2018. "Price Competition and Market Segmentation in Retail Gasoline: New Evidence from South Korea," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 53(3), pages 507-534, November.
    13. Matthias Firgo & Agnes Kügler, 2014. "Detecting Collusion in Spatially Differentiated Markets," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp188, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    14. Hugh Gravelle & Anthony Scott & Peter Sivey & Jongsay Yong, 2016. "Competition, prices and quality in the market for physician consultations," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 135-169, March.
    15. Klaus Gugler & Sven Heim & Mario Liebensteiner, 2016. "Non-Sequential Search, Competition and Price Dispersion in Retail Electricity," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp225, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    16. Moraga-González, José Luis & Sándor, Zsolt & Wildenbeest, Matthijs R., 2017. "Nonsequential search equilibrium with search cost heterogeneity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 392-414.
    17. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, September.
    18. Osmis Areda Habte & Håkan J. Holm, 2022. "Competition Makes Inspectors More Lenient: Evidence from the Motor Vehicle Inspection Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 61(1), pages 45-72, August.
    19. Sylvain Benoît & Yannick Lucotte & Sébastien Ringuedé, 2019. "Competition and price stickiness: Evidence from the French retail gasoline market," Working Papers hal-02292332, HAL.
    20. Avi Weiss & Joshua Sherman, 2014. "An Empirical Analysis of Search Costs and Price Dispersion," Working Papers 2014-06, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Spatial competition; Product quality; Retail prices; Retail markets; Camping sites;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

    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:regeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:117-136. 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/regec .

    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.