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Coordinated Capacity Reductions and Public Communication in the Airline Industry

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Listed:
  • Gaurab Aryal
  • Federico Ciliberto
  • Benjamin T Leyden

Abstract

We investigate the allegation that legacy US airlines communicated via earnings calls to coordinate with other legacy airlines in offering fewer seats on competitive routes. To this end, we first use text analytics to build a novel dataset on communication among airlines about their capacity choices. Estimates from our preferred specification show that the number of offered seats is 2 lower when all legacy airlines in a market discuss the concept of “capacity discipline.” We verify that this reduction materializes only when legacy airlines communicate concurrently, and that it cannot be explained by other possibilities, including that airlines are simply announcing to investors their unilateral plans to reduce capacity, and then following through on those announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaurab Aryal & Federico Ciliberto & Benjamin T Leyden, 2022. "Coordinated Capacity Reductions and Public Communication in the Airline Industry," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 3055-3084.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:89:y:2022:i:6:p:3055-3084.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdab100
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    10. Federico Ciliberto & Jonathan W. Williams, 2010. "Limited Access to Airport Facilities and Market Power in the Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 467-495.
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    Cited by:

    1. Awaya, Yu & Krishna, Vijay, 2019. "Communication and cooperation in repeated games," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(2), May.
    2. Jeremy Bertomeu & John Harry Evans & Mei Feng & Ayung Tseng, 2021. "Tacit Collusion and Voluntary Disclosure: Theory and Evidence from the U.S. Automotive Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1851-1875, March.
    3. Brown, David P. & Cajueiro, Daniel O. & Eckert, Andrew & Silveira, Douglas, 2024. "Evaluating the Role of Information Disclosure on Bidding Behavior in Wholesale Electricity Markets," Working Papers 2024-2, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    4. Aaron Barkley & David P. Byrne & Xiaosong Wu, 2022. "Price effects of calling out market power: A study of the COVID‐19 oil price shock," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 923-941, November.
    5. Thomas Bourveau & Guoman She & Alminas Žaldokas, 2020. "Corporate Disclosure as a Tacit Coordination Mechanism: Evidence from Cartel Enforcement Regulations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 295-332, May.
    6. Lysle Boller & Fiona Scott Morton, 2020. "Testing the Theory of Common Stock Ownership," NBER Working Papers 27515, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Qiwen Sheng & Tomislav Vukina, 2024. "Public Communication as a Mechanism for Collusion in the Broiler Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(1), pages 57-91, February.
    8. Brown, David P. & Eckert, Andrew & Silveira, Douglas, 2023. "Screening for collusion in wholesale electricity markets: A literature review," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Airlines; Communication; Collusion; Capacity discipline; Text data;
    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
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

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