The Impact of the Internet on Retail Competition: Evidence from Technological Differences in Internet Access

Does the internet increase competition? To address this question, I exploit two institutional details unique to Germany: (1) Some municipalities received glass fibre cables that cannot be upgraded to DSL; I use these municipalities as a treatment group with reduced online competition. (2) German law mandates resale price maintenance for books; I compare three retailing sectors, electronics (price competition), books (no price competition), and food (no online sales), to identify the effect of price competition: The effect of price competition is highly significant. Full broadband access reduces offline electronics retailers' producer rents by 1.5 percent per year from 1999 to 2007.

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Year of publication:	2010
Authors:	Gebhardt, Georg
Publisher:	München : Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio 15 - Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems (GESY)
Subject:	Internet \| Online-Handel \| Marktstruktur \| Einzelhandel \| Preiswettbewerb \| Breitbandkommunikation \| Schätzung \| Deutschland \| Market Structure \| Retail Competition \| Differences in Differences

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Series:	SFB/TR 15 Discussion Paper ; 345
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Type of publication (narrower categories):	Working Paper
Language:	English
Other identifiers:	10.5282/ubm/epub.13209 [DOI] 645943150 [GVK] hdl:10419/93915 [Handle] RePEc:trf:wpaper:345 [RePEc]
Classification:	D43 - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection ; L81 - Retail and Wholesale Trade; Warehousing ; L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
Source:	EconStor

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010333892