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Do Switching Costs Make Markets Less Competitive?

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Pierre Dube
  • Guenter J. Hitsch

    (GSB University of Chicago)

  • Peter Rossi

Abstract

The conventional wisdom in economic theory holds that switching costs make markets less competitive. This paper challenges this claim. We find that steady-state equilibrium prices may fall as switching costs are introduced into a dynamic pricing model. To assess whether this finding is of empirical relevance, we consider a general model with differentiated products, imperfect lock-in and a large number of consumer types. We calibrate this model with data from a frequently purchased packaged goods market, where consumers exhibit brand loyalty, a specific form of switching costs. We are able to estimate the level of switching costs from the brand choice behavior in this data. At switching costs of the order of magnitude found in our data, prices are lower than in the situation without switching costs

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Pierre Dube & Guenter J. Hitsch & Peter Rossi, 2006. "Do Switching Costs Make Markets Less Competitive?," 2006 Meeting Papers 514, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed006:514
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jason Allen & Robert Clark & Jean-François Houde, 2008. "Market Structure and the Diffusion of E-Commerce: Evidence from the Retail Banking Industry," Staff Working Papers 08-32, Bank of Canada.
    2. Ribeiro, Ricardo, 2010. "Consumer demand for variety: intertemporal effects of consumption, product switching and pricing policies," MPRA Paper 25812, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Janssen, Maarten C.W. & Non, Marielle C., 2008. "Advertising and consumer search in a duopoly model," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 354-371, January.
    4. Lukasz Grzybowski & Pedro Pereira, 2007. "Merger Simulation in Mobile Telephony in Portugal," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 31(3), pages 205-220, November.
    5. Wesley Hartmann & V. Viard, 2008. "Do frequency reward programs create switching costs? A dynamic structural analysis of demand in a reward program," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 109-137, June.
    6. Omar A. Abdelrahman, 2016. "Credit Card Rates and Consumer Switch: New Evidence," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(12), pages 95-105, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Switching Costs; Dynamic Oligopoly; Bayesian Econometrics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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