Incompatibility, Product Attributes and Consumer Welfare: Evidence from ATMs

Incompatibility in market with network effects reduces consumers? ability to ?mix and match? components offered by different sellers, but can also spur changes in product attributes that might beneÞt consumers. In this paper, we estimate the effects of incompatibility on consumers in a classic hardware/software market: ATM cards and machines. We Þnd that while ATM fees ceteris paribus reduce the network beneÞt from other banks? ATMs, a surge in ATM deployment accompanies the shift to surcharging. This is valuable to consumers and often completely offsets the harm from higher fees. The results suggest that policy discussions of incompatibility must consider not only its direct effect on consumers, but also its effect on product attributes.ATMs, incompatibility, compatibility, discrete choice, network effects, demand estimation

Tacit Collusion in the Presence of Cyclical Demand and Endogenous Capacity Levels

We analyze tacit collusion in an industry characterized by cyclical demand and long-run scale decisions; …rms face deterministic demand cycles and choose capacity levels prior to competing in prices. Our focus is on the nature of prices. We …nd that two types of price wars may exist. In one, collusion can involve periods of mixed strategy price wars. In the other, consistent with the Rotemberg and Saloner (1986) de…nition of price wars, we show that collusive prices can also become countercyclical. We also establish pricing patterns with respect to the relative prices in booms and recessions. If the marginal cost of capacity is high enough, holding current demand constant, prices in the boom will be generally lower than the prices in the recession; this reverses the results of Haltiwanger and Harrington (1991). In contrast, if the marginal cost of capacity is low enough, then prices in the boom will be generally higher than the prices in the recession. For costs in an intermediate range, numerical examples are calculated to show specifc pricing patterns.industrial

Re-Assessing the U.S. Quality Adjustment to Computer Prices: The Role of Durability and Changing Software

In the second-half of the 1990s, the positive impact of information technology on productivity growth for the United States became apparent. The measurement of this productivity improvement depends on hedonic procedures adopted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In this paper we suggest a new reason why conventional hedonic methods may overstate the price decline of personal computers. We model computers as a durable good and suppose that software changes over time, which influences the efficiency of a computer. Anticipating future increases in software, purchasers may “overbuy” characteristics, in the sense that the purchased bundle of characteristics is not fully utilized in the first months or year that a computer is owned. In this case, we argue that hedonic procedures do not provide valid bounds on the true price of computer services at the time the machine is purchased with the concurrent level of software. To assess these theoretical results we estimate the model and find that before 2000 the hedonic price index constructed with BLS methods overstates the fall in computer prices. After 2000, however, the BLS hedonic index falls more slowly, reflecting the reduced marginal cost of acquiring (and therefore marginal benefit to users) of characteristics such as RAM, hard disk space or speed.industrial

Compatibility and Pricing with Indirect Network Effects: Evidence from ATMs

Incompatibility in markets with indirect network e¤ects can a¤ect prices if consumers value ?mix and match?combinations of complementary network components. In this paper, we exam- ine the e¤ects of incompatibility using data from a classic market with indirect network e¤ects: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Our sample covers a period during which higher ATM fees increased incompatibility between ATM cards (which are bundled with deposit accounts) and other banks?ATM machines. A series of hedonic regressions suggests that incompatibility strengthens the relationship between deposit account pricing and own ATMs, and weakens the relationship between deposit account pricing and competitors?ATMs. The e¤ects of incom- patibility are stronger in areas with high population density, suggesting that high travel costs increase both the strength of network e¤ects and the importance of incompatibility in ATM markets.atm, network effects

The Impact of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 on Electric Utilitiesand Coal Mines: Evidence from the Stock Market

If new environmental regulation imposes significant costs on firms, it should be detected in their stock prices. We use event study methodology to analyze whether President George H. Bush’s Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) proposals of June 1989, which were quite different from what had been expected, depressed stock prices in affected electricity generating and coal mining companies. We find that shares of 35 electric generating companies owning Phase I power plants did not noticeably fall in value after the Bush June 1989 announcement, nor after three other possibly relevant events during the preceding year. In fact, these shares increased in value during June and July of 1989. In contrast, stock prices of 11 of the 12 coal mining companies fell after Bush announced his proposals, while stock prices of a large majority of these coal companies fell after two of the other three events (although significance levels make these results not entirely conclusive). We argue that expected profits of electric generating companies did not fall because the regulated price of electricity was typically allowed to increase with costs. In the electricity industry, the costs of the CAAA were expected to be borne entirely by consumers in the form of higher prices.clean air, electric

Strategic Incompatibility in ATM Markets

We test whether firms use incompatibility strategically, using data from ATM markets. High ATM fees degrade the value of competitors' deposit accounts, and can in principle serve as a mechanism for siphoning depositors away from competitors or for creating deposit account differentiation. Our empirical framework can empirically distinguish surcharging motivated by this strategic concern from surcharging that simply maximizes ATM profit considered as a stand-alone operation. The results are consistent with such behavior by large banks, but not by small banks. For large banks, the effect of incompatibility seems to operate through higher deposit account fees rather than increased deposit account base.

Compatibility and pricing with indirect network effects: evidence from ATMs

Incompatibility in markets with indirect network effects can reduce consumers’ willingness to pay if they value “mix and match” combinations of complementary network components. For integrated firms selling complementary components, incompatibility should also strengthen the demand-side link between components. In this paper, we examine the effects of incompatibility using data from a classic market with indirect network effects: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Our sample covers a period during which higher ATM fees increased incompatibility between ATM cards and other banks’ ATM machines. We find that incompatibility led to lower willingness to pay for deposit accounts. We also find that incompatibility benefited firms with large ATM fleets.Automated tellers

Compatibility and Pricing with Indirect Network Effects: Evidence from ATMs

Incompatibility in markets with indirect network effects can affect prices if consumers value "mix and match" combinations of complementary network components. In this paper, we examine the effects of incompatibility using data from a classic market with indirect network effects: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Our sample covers a period during which higher ATM fees increased incompatibility between ATM cards (which are bundled with deposit accounts) and other banks' ATM machines. A series of hedonic regressions suggests that incompatibility strengthens the relationship between deposit account pricing and own ATMs, and weakens the relationship between deposit account pricing and competitors' ATMs. The effects of incompatibility are stronger in areas with high population density, suggesting that high travel costs increase both the strength of network effects and the importance of incompatibility in ATM markets.