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To Price Discriminate or Not: Product Choice and the Selection Bias Problem

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  • Ganesh Iyer
  • P.B. Seetharaman

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate a gasoline station's incentive to price-discriminate by selling full-service gasoline as well as self-service gasoline. Unlike previous research, we explicitly model a firm's incentive to price discriminate by choosing to be either single-product or multi-product as a function of market and station characteristics. This allows us to make two contributions to research in the area: First, we highlight the importance of accounting for self-selectivity considerations that can arise in an empirical analysis of price discrimination that is based on market data. Second, we are able to show how the product and pricing choices of firms depend upon the market characteristics. Using cross-sectional survey data on prices, station and market characteristics for 198 gasoline stations in the Greater Saint Louis area, we estimate a switching regression model of station decisions. Specifically, we employ a binary probit framework that models a station's decision to price-discriminate through the choice of the station-type as a function of market and station characteristics. We then estimate conditional linear regressions with self-selectivity corrections for the station's choice of prices. We show that incorrect inferences about the incentive to price discriminate and about the differences in the prices charged between single-product and multi-product stations would result if the endogeneity in the choice of the station-type were ignored in the estimation. The empirical analysis shows that a larger income spread in the market implies a greater likelihood of the gasoline station being multi-product. In addition, we have support for the various within firm and across firm price differentials as predicted by the theory of price discrimination. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

Suggested Citation

  • Ganesh Iyer & P.B. Seetharaman, 2003. "To Price Discriminate or Not: Product Choice and the Selection Bias Problem," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 155-178, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:qmktec:v:1:y:2003:i:2:p:155-178
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1024656413074
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Echambadi, Raj & Jindal, Rupinder P. & Blair, Edward A., 2013. "Evaluating and Managing Brand Repurchase Across Multiple Geographic Retail Markets," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 409-422.
    2. Natalia Fabra & Juan-Pablo Montero, 2022. "Product Lines and Price Discrimination in Markets with Information Frictions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 981-1001, February.
    3. Amoy X. Yang, 2019. "Price differentiation model: its challenges and solutions," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 123-132, April.
    4. 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.
    5. Wolk, Agnieszka & Ebling, Christine, 2010. "Multi-channel price differentiation: An empirical investigation of existence and causes," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 142-150.
    6. Ku, Cheng-Yuan & Chang, Yi-Wen, 2012. "Optimal production and selling policies with fixed-price contracts and contingent-price offers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 94-101.

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