算法定价与竞争：来自德国零售汽油市场的实证证据

中文摘要

我们通过研究算法定价（AP）在德国零售汽油市场中的采用所产生的影响，首次对算法定价与竞争之间的关系进行了实证分析；在该市场中，相关软件于2017年广泛可用。由于采用日期未知，我们通过对AP指标进行结构断点检验来识别采用该软件的加油站，发现多数断点出现在AP广泛引入的时期前后。由于加油站是否采用是内生的，我们使用总部采用作为工具变量。采用会提高利润率，但仅对非垄断加油站如此。在双寡头和三寡头市场中，只有当所有加油站都采用时利润率才会提高，这表明AP对竞争具有显著影响。

Abstract

We provide the first empirical analysis of the relationship between algorithmic pricing (AP) and competition by studying the impact of adoption in Germany’s retail gasoline market, where software became widely available in 2017. Because adoption dates are unknown, we identify adopting stations by testing for structural breaks in AP markers, finding most breaks to be around the time of widespread AP introduction. Because station adoption is endogenous, we instrument using headquarter adoption. Adoption increases margins but only for nonmonopoly stations. In duopoly and triopoly markets, margins increase only if all stations adopt, suggesting that AP has a significant effect on competition.