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  • P-ISSN 2586-2995
  • E-ISSN 2586-4130
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KDI Journal of Economic Policy. Vol. 37, No. 1, February 2015, pp. 1-18

https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2015.37.1.1

× KDI Open Access is a program of fully open access journals to facilitate the widest possible dissemination of high-quality research. All research articles published in KDI JEP are immediately, permanently and freely available online for everyone to read, download and share in terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

An Empirical Study of the Effect of the Internet on Fares in the U.S. Airline Industry

Hwa Ryung Lee

Author & Article History

Manuscript received 25 August 2014; revision received 15 September 2014; accepted 17 February 2015.

Abstract

A reduction in search costs is generally believed to make markets more competitive. However, the effect may be mitigated or amplified if consumers must pay costs for switching products. This paper investigates how search costs affect prices in the presence of switching costs using U.S. domestic airfare data for 2000–2010. The airline industry experienced a dramatic decrease in search costs with increasing Internet use in the 2000s. At the same time, the industry is known for its frequent flyer programs (FFPs), which increase switching costs for consumers. We use the average network size of airlines in a market as a proxy for switching costs related to FFPs and Internet usage as a proxy for (the inverse of) search costs. The results show that increasing Internet usage lowers airfares but that the effect is smaller for markets with a larger average network size.

Keywords

Search costs, Switching costs, Internet, Frequent Flyer Program, Airline industry

JEL Code

D1, L1, L93, M3

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