IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jincot/v13y2013i3p431-452.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating Consumer Lock-In Effects from Firm-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Gábor Kézdi
  • Gergely Csorba

Abstract

This paper proposes a practical method for estimating consumer lock-in effects from firm-level data. The method compares the behavior of already contracted consumers to the behavior of new consumers, the latter serving as a counterfactual to the former. In panel regressions on firms’ incoming and quitting consumers, we look at the differential response to price changes and identify the lock-in effect from the difference between the two. We discuss the potential econometric issues and measurement problems and offer solutions to them. We illustrate our method by analyzing the market for personal loans in Hungary and find strong lock-in effects. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Gábor Kézdi & Gergely Csorba, 2013. "Estimating Consumer Lock-In Effects from Firm-Level Data," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 431-452, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jincot:v:13:y:2013:i:3:p:431-452
    DOI: 10.1007/s10842-012-0149-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10842-012-0149-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10842-012-0149-2?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shy, Oz, 2002. "A quick-and-easy method for estimating switching costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-87, January.
    2. Pasquale Schiraldi, 2011. "Automobile replacement: a dynamic structural approach," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(2), pages 266-291, June.
    3. Farrell, Joseph & Klemperer, Paul, 2007. "Coordination and Lock-In: Competition with Switching Costs and Network Effects," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1967-2072, Elsevier.
    4. Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 1998. "Inertia and Variety Seeking in a Model of Brand-Purchase Timing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 253-270.
    5. Gábor Kézdi & Gergely Csorba, 2013. "Estimating Consumer Lock-In Effects from Firm-Level Data," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 431-452, September.
    6. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    7. Lukasz Grzybowski, 2008. "Estimating Switching Costs in Mobile Telephony in the UK," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 113-132, June.
    8. Beggs, Alan W & Klemperer, Paul, 1992. "Multi-period Competition with Switching Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(3), pages 651-666, May.
    9. Pei-Yu (Sharon) Chen & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Measuring Switching Costs and the Determinants of Customer Retention in Internet-Enabled Businesses: A Study of the Online Brokerage Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 255-274, September.
    10. Brigitte C. Madrian, 1994. "Employment-Based Health Insurance and Job Mobility: Is there Evidence of Job-Lock?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 27-54.
    11. Jean‐Pierre Dubé & Günter J. Hitsch & Peter E. Rossi, 2010. "State dependence and alternative explanations for consumer inertia," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 417-445, September.
    12. Kim, Moshe & Kliger, Doron & Vale, Bent, 2003. "Estimating switching costs: the case of banking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 25-56, January.
    13. Maicas, Juan Pablo & Polo, Yolanda & Javier Sese, F., 2009. "Reducing the level of switching costs in mobile communications: The case of Mobile Number Portability," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 544-554, October.
    14. P. B. Seetharaman, 2004. "Modeling Multiple Sources of State Dependence in Random Utility Models: A Distributed Lag Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 263-271, April.
    15. Avi Goldfarb, 2006. "State Dependence at Internet Portals," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 317-352, June.
    16. Matthew Shum, 2004. "Does Advertising Overcome Brand Loyalty? Evidence from the Breakfast‐Cereals Market," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 241-272, 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. Dancsik, Bálint & Marosi, Anna & Szabó, Beáta, 2022. "Túl drága az olcsó hitel - a családi otthonteremtési kedvezmény támogatott hitelkamatainak vizsgálata [Cheap loans are too expensive: an examination of interest rates on subsidised housing loans]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1493-1506.
    2. Gábor Kézdi & Gergely Csorba, 2013. "Estimating Consumer Lock-In Effects from Firm-Level Data," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 431-452, September.

    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. Gabor Kezdi & Gergely Csorba, 2011. "Estimating the Lock-in Effects of Switching Costs from Firm-Level Data," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1108, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    2. Carlos Ocaña Pérez de Tudela & Yolanda Polo & Francisco Javier Sesé, 2009. "Existencia y heterogeneidad de los costes de cambio en la industria de la Telefonía Móvil," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 191(4), pages 9-26, December.
    3. Koray Cosguner & Tat Y. Chan & P. B. (Seethu) Seetharaman, 2018. "Dynamic Pricing in a Distribution Channel in the Presence of Switching Costs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1212-1229, March.
    4. Lucio Fuentelsaz & Juan Pablo Maicas & Yolanda Polo, 2012. "Switching Costs, Network Effects, and Competition in the European Mobile Telecommunications Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 93-108, March.
    5. Aljoscha Janssen, 2022. "Price dynamics of Swedish pharmaceuticals," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 313-351, December.
    6. Ruiz-Aliseda, Francisco, 2016. "When do switching costs make markets more or less competitive?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 121-151.
    7. Javier D. Donna, 2021. "Measuring long‐run gasoline price elasticities in urban travel demand," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 945-994, December.
    8. Rizkiah, Siti K. & Disli, Mustafa & Salim, Kinan & Razak, Lutfi A., 2021. "Switching costs and bank competition: Evidence from dual banking economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Guy Arie & Paul E. Grieco, 2014. "Who pays for switching costs?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 379-419, December.
    10. Amante, Ana & Vareda, João, 2010. "Improving consumer mobility in the mobile voice services market: a comprehensive set of remedies," 21st European Regional ITS Conference, Copenhagen 2010: Telecommunications at new crossroads - Changing value configurations, user roles, and regulation 2, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    11. Jason Allen & Shaoteng Li, 2020. "Dynamic Competition in Negotiated Price Markets," Staff Working Papers 20-22, Bank of Canada.
    12. Janssen, Aljoscha, 2020. "Price Dynamics of Swedish Pharmaceuticals," Working Paper Series 1325, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    13. Yoonhee Tina Chang & Catherine Waddams Price, 2008. "Gain or Pain: Does Consumer Activity Reflect Utility Maximisation?," Working Papers 08-15, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia.
    14. László Lörincz & Péter Nagy, 2010. "Switching Costs in Telecommunications: Conclusions from a Hungarian Survey," Chapters, in: Morten Falch & Jan Markendahl (ed.), Promoting New Telecom Infrastructures, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Lukasz Grzybowski, 2008. "Estimating Switching Costs in Mobile Telephony in the UK," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 113-132, June.
    16. K. Sudhir & Nathan Yang, 2014. "Exploiting the Choice-Consumption Mismatch: A New Approach to Disentangle State Dependence and Heterogeneity," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1941, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    17. Hong, Seung-Hyun & Rezende, Leonardo, 2012. "Lock-in and unobserved preferences in server operating systems: A case of Linux vs. Windows," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 167(2), pages 494-503.
    18. Polo, Yolanda & Sese, F. Javier & Verhoef, Peter C., 2011. "The Effect of Pricing and Advertising on Customer Retention in a Liberalizing Market," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 201-214.
    19. Bouckaert, Jan & Degryse, Hans & Provoost, Thomas, 2010. "Enhancing market power by reducing switching costs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 131-133, November.
    20. Zhao, Tianshu & Matthews, Kent & Murinde, Victor, 2013. "Cross-selling, switching costs and imperfect competition in British banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5452-5462.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    lock-in; switching costs; demand analysis; difference-in-differences; personal loans; C33; D12; L13;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

    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:kap:jincot:v:13:y:2013:i:3:p:431-452. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    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.