IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/22305.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Upside-down Economics of Regulated and Otherwise Rigid Prices

Author

Listed:
  • Casey B. Mulligan
  • Kevin K. Tsui

Abstract

A hedonic model featuring quality-quantity tradeoffs reveals a number of surprising market behaviors that can result from price regulations that are imposed on competitive markets for products that have adjustable non-price attributes. Quality need not clear a competitive market in the same way that prices do, because quality can reduce the willingness to pay for quantity. Producers can benefit from price ceilings, at the expense of consumers. Price ceilings can result in quality-degradation “death spirals” that would not occur under quality regulation or excise taxation. The features of tastes and technology that lead to such outcomes are summarized with pairwise comparisons of (not necessarily constant) elasticities.

Suggested Citation

  • Casey B. Mulligan & Kevin K. Tsui, 2016. "The Upside-down Economics of Regulated and Otherwise Rigid Prices," NBER Working Papers 22305, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22305
    Note: IO PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22305.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Levy, Daniel & Bergen, Mark & Dutta, Shantanu & Venable, Robert, 1997. "The Magnitude of Menu Costs: Direct Evidence from Large U.S. Supermarket Chains," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 112(3), pages 791-824.
    2. David D. Friedman, 1990. "Price Theory: An Intermediate Text," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number prin13.
    3. Rolnick, Arthur J & Weber, Warren E, 1986. "Gresham's Law or Gresham's Fallacy?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(1), pages 185-199, February.
    4. H. Theil, 1952. "Qualities, Prices and Budget Enquiries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 19(3), pages 129-147.
    5. Jeremy Bulow & Paul Klemperer, 2012. "Regulated Prices, Rent Seeking, and Consumer Surplus," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(1), pages 160-186.
    6. David H. Autor & Christopher J. Palmer & Parag A. Pathak, 2014. "Housing Market Spillovers: Evidence from the End of Rent Control in Cambridge, Massachusetts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(3), pages 661-717.
    7. Ali Yurukoglu & Eli Liebman & David B. Ridley, 2017. "The Role of Government Reimbursement in Drug Shortages," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 348-382, May.
    8. Richard B. Freeman & David A. Wise, 1982. "The Youth Labor Market Problem: Its Nature, Causes, and Consequences," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free82-1.
    9. Casey B. Mulligan, 2005. "Conscription as Regulation," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 7(1), pages 85-111.
    10. Edward L. Glaeser & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2003. "The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1027-1046, September.
    11. Becker, Gary S, 1991. "A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 1109-1116, October.
    12. Barzel,Yoram, 1997. "Economic Analysis of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521597135, February.
    13. Telser,Lester G., 1987. "A Theory of Efficient Cooperation and Competition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521306195, January.
    14. Robert E. Hall, 1982. "The Minimum Wage and Job Turnover in Markets for Young Workers," NBER Chapters, in: The Youth Labor Market Problem: Its Nature, Causes, and Consequences, pages 475-498, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Ippolito, Richard A, 2003. "The Impact of the Minimum Wage If Workers Can Adjust Effort," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 207-227, April.
    16. George J. Stigler, 1968. "Price and Non-Price Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(1), pages 149-149.
    17. Besley, Timothy & Hall, John & Preston, Ian, 1999. "The demand for private health insurance: do waiting lists matter?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 155-181, May.
    18. Deacon, Robert T & Sonstelie, Jon, 1985. "Rationing by Waiting and the Value of Time: Results from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 627-647, August.
    19. Esther Gal-Or, 1983. "Quality and Quantity Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 590-600, Autumn.
    20. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    21. Kelvin J. Lancaster, 1966. "A New Approach to Consumer Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(2), pages 132-132.
    22. Harry J. Holzer & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1991. "Job Queues and Wages," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(3), pages 739-768.
    23. Leffler, Keith B, 1982. "Ambiguous Changes in Product Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 956-967, December.
    24. Peter O. Steiner, 1952. "Program Patterns and Preferences, and the Workability of Competition in Radio Broadcasting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 66(2), pages 194-223.
    25. Thomas W. Hazlett & Matthew L. Spitzer, 1997. "Public Policy toward Cable Television," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 53139, September.
    26. Dreze, Jacques H & Hagen, Kare P, 1978. "Choice of Product Quality: Equilibrium and Efficiency," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(3), pages 493-513, May.
    27. Martin L. Weitzman, 1974. "Prices vs. Quantities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(4), pages 477-491.
    28. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Raymon, Neil, 1983. "Price ceilings in competitive markets with variable quality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 257-264, November.
    30. Feldman, Roger & Dowd, Bryan, 1991. "Must adverse selection cause premium spirals?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 349-357, October.
    31. Taylor, Grant A. & Tsui, Kevin K. K. & Zhu, Lijing, 2003. "Lottery or waiting-line auction?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(5-6), pages 1313-1334, May.
    32. Frech, H E, III & Samprone, Joseph C, Jr, 1980. "The Welfare Loss of Excess Nonprice Competition: The Case of Property-Liability Insurance Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 429-440, October.
    33. Welch, Finis, 1974. "Minimum Wage Legislation in the United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(3), pages 285-318, September.
    34. Jack Hirshleifer, 1955. "The Exchange Between Quantity and Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(4), pages 596-606.
    35. Martin Ellison & Charles Brendon & Martin Ellison, 2012. "Dynamic Rawlsian Policy," Economics Series Working Papers 595, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    36. Murphy, Michael M, 1980. "Price Controls and the Behavior of the Firm," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 21(2), pages 285-291, June.
    37. Casey B. Mulligan, 2015. "In-Kind Taxes, Behavior, and Comparative Advantage," NBER Working Papers 21586, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. A. Michael Spence, 1975. "Monopoly, Quality, and Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(2), pages 417-429, Autumn.
    39. H. E. Frech III & William C. Lee, 1987. "The Welfare Cost of Rationing-By-Queuing Across Markets: Theory and Estimates from the U. S. Gasoline Crises," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(1), pages 97-108.
    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. Tin Cheuk Leung & Kwok Ping Ping & Kevin K. Tsui, 2019. "What can deregulators deregulate? The case of electricity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 1-32, August.
    2. Casey B. Mulligan, 2018. "Quantifier Elimination for Deduction in Econometrics," NBER Working Papers 24601, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Casey B. Mulligan, 2016. "Automated Economic Reasoning with Quantifier Elimination," NBER Working Papers 22922, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Fillmore, Ian, 2022. "A $15 federal minimum wage is outside historical experience," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 84-92.

    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. Lucas W. Davis & Lutz Kilian, 2011. "The Allocative Cost of Price Ceilings in the U.S. Residential Market for Natural Gas," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(2), pages 212-241.
    2. John Bennett & Ioana Chioveanu, 2019. "Pro‐Consumer Price Ceilings under Regulatory Uncertainty," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(4), pages 1757-1784, October.
    3. Aart Gerritsen, 2016. "How Many Harberger Triangles Does it Take to Fill one Okun Gap?," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2016-05, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    4. Gerritsen, Aart, 2017. "Equity and efficiency in rationed labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 56-68.
    5. LaPlue, Lawrence D., 2022. "Environmental consequences of natural gas wellhead pricing deregulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    6. Joan Monràs & José Garcia Montalvo, 2021. "The effect of second generation rent controls: New evidence from Catalonia," Economics Working Papers 1836, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Apr 2022.
    7. Chen Ling & David Scrogin, 2014. "Optimal pricing of public lotteries and comparison of competing mechanisms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(26), pages 3211-3223, September.
    8. Luttmer Erzo F.P., 2007. "Does the Minimum Wage Cause Inefficient Rationing?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, October.
    9. Enström Öst, Cecilia & Johansson, Per, 2023. "The consequences of the Swedish rent control system on labor income: Evidence from a randomized apartment lottery," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    10. Aart Gerritsen & Bas Jacobs, 2020. "Is a Minimum Wage an Appropriate Instrument for Redistribution?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(347), pages 611-637, July.
    11. Laurent d'Ursel, 1983. "Politiques de « non-prix » : Equilibre et optimum," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 34(6), pages 1057-1088.
    12. Fleck, Robert K., 2014. "Can prohibitions on “price gouging” reduce deadweight losses?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 100-107.
    13. Evan L. Porteus & Hyoduk Shin & Tunay I. Tunca, 2010. "Feasting on Leftovers: Strategic Use of Shortages in Price Competition Among Differentiated Products," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 140-161, November.
    14. repec:ces:ifosdt:v:74:y:2021:i:03:p:26-29 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Nelson, Julianne, 1991. "Quality as a substitute for quantity : Do more reliable products ever sell for less?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 239-243, July.
    16. de la Croix, David & Gosseries, Axel, 2012. "The natalist bias of pollution control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 271-287.
    17. Lucas W. Davis, Shaun Mcrae, and Enrique Seira Bejarano, 2019. "An Economic Perspective on Mexico's Nascent Deregulation of Retail Petroleum Markets," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    18. James J. Heckman, 2015. "Introduction to A Theory of the Allocation of Time by Gary Becker," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(583), pages 403-409, March.
    19. Chen, Ruoyu & Jiang, Hanchen & Quintero, Luis E., 2023. "Measuring the value of rent stabilization and understanding its implications for racial inequality: Evidence from New York City," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. Arora, Ashish & Forman, Chris & Nandkumar, Anand & Telang, Rahul, 2010. "Competition and patching of security vulnerabilities: An empirical analysis," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 164-177, May.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:22305. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.