Date: 2023
Type: Thesis
Modern markets : competition in the 21st century
Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, ECO, PhD thesis
HANSPACH, Philip, Modern markets : competition in the 21st century, Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, ECO, PhD thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75898
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This thesis is composed of three independent chapters, the third of which consists of two separate but thematically related papers. In Chapter 1, I introduce a theoretical model of vertical integration with a novel demand structure to investigate the effect of vertical integration into Internet infrastructure on competition in digital markets. I find that pure infrastructure providers have an incentive to accommodate vertically integrated firms by becoming “commoditized” suppliers of infrastructure. My model explains new trends in digital markets and has implications for competition policy, industrial policy and political economy. In Chapter 2, I estimate the effects of crisis intensity and deregulation on home bias in procurement. Using a novel data set on the award of procurement contracts for medical supplies during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, I study the propensity to award contracts internationally. I document a unique shift towards international procurement, driven by local spikes in infection rates and deregulation. In Chapter 3, I study the role of pricing algorithms in online marketplaces. Its first part is a joint article with Giacomo Calzolari that describes the algorithmic repricing industry. Based on a novel sample of 130 repricing companies, we study the prices and claimed attributes of pricing algorithms. We find that turn-key algorithmic pricing services are widely available, and discuss product features, fees, and associated services. The second part of Chapter 3 is a literature review on algorithmic pricing. I summarize findings from the economics literature covering computational, experimental, and empirical methods as well as adjacent fields. I argue that a lack of understanding of buyer responses to algorithmic pricing cycles and endogenous adoption of algorithmic pricing are the main gaps in the literature.
Table of Contents:
-- 1. Internet infrastructure and competition in digital markets
-- 2. Does buyer discretion facilitate home bias in procurement? Cross-border procurement of medical supplies under Covid-19
-- 3. Pricing algorithms out of the box: a study of the repricing industry
-- 4. Algorithmic pricing - a literature review
-- A. Appendix to chapter 1
-- B. Appendix to chapter 2
-- C. Appendix to chapter 3
Additional information:
Defence date: 25 September 2023; Examining Board: Prof. Giacomo Calzolari (Eurooean University Institute, supervisor); Prof. David Levine (Eurooean University Institute, co-supervisor); Dr. Justus Haucap (Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)); Dr. Pierre Regibeau (European Commission)
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75898
Full-text via DOI: 10.2870/787790
Series/Number: EUI; ECO; PhD thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Information technology -- Economic aspects; Competition; Markets
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