SPATIAL COMPETITION,PRICING, AND MARKET POWER IN TRANSPORTATION: A DOMINANT FIRM MODEL* |
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| Authors: | Simon P. Anderson Wesley W. Wilson |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Economics, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400182, Charlottesville, VA 22904‐4182. E‐mail: sa9w@unix.mail.virginia.edu;2. Department of Economics, University of Oregon, and Institute for Water Resources, Eugene Oregon 97403. E‐mail: wwilson@uoregon.edu |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Transport firms compete over space. We develop a dominant firm model of transport services wherein one firm (the railroad) has market power, but competes in space with a competitive alternative (truck‐barge). When constrained, the dominant firm prices to “beat the competition”, which impedes efficiency when demand has some elasticity. We extend the basic model in a number of directions that include the relationship between monopoly prices and the generalized concavity of the shipper demand functions, the effects of multiple terminal markets, the role of joint production (fronthaul–backhaul markets), and the effects of capacity constraints. |
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