Claudia Capozza

Airline Pricing Behaviour Under Limited Intermodal Competition

This paper explores airline pricing behaviour dealing with two issues. The OIˆrst is to measure the extent to which intramodal competition inaI uences fares charged to travellers. The second is to shed light on faresiI intertemporal proOIˆle to verify if airlines undertake intertemporal price discrimination (IPD) strate- gies and whether IPD is of monopolistic-type or competitive-type. Di§erently from past contributions, we study airline pricing behaviour removing the inaI u- ence of intermodal competition. To this scope, we focus on the southern Italian market since it is less accessible by other modes and thus, air transport-related competition prevails. Our results claim that when the intramodal competition reduces, airlines apply higher fares as they exploit the greater market power arising from more concentrated market structure. Further, we OIˆnd evidence that airlines do undertake IPD strategies - the intertemporal proOIˆle of fares follows a J-curve - but that they do so in more competitive markets.

The e§ect of Bank Concentration on Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European Transition Countries

Using data from 2000 to 2007, we investigate the e§ect of bank concentration on the entrepreneurial initiative in the Central and Eastern European transition countries for eight industrial sectors. We set up a simple structural model by which we test the relationship between banking market structure and Orm cre- ation. First, we estimate the model on the whole sample, to test the general e§ect; then, we restrict the analysis to the high-technology-intensive sectors to verify the speciOc impact of banking market structure on industries which are, usually, more in need of external Onance. Our results provide evidence of a non monotonic relationship: bank concentration promotes entrepreneurship; however, an excessive level of concentration becomes harmful. Moreover, the positive effect of concentration decreases for high-technology-intensive sectors. Entrepreneur- ship is also favoured by well-developed Onancial markets, perceived quality of the institutional environment, policies to prevent corruption and e§ective property rights protection.

Local industrial structure, agglomeration economies and the creation of innovative start-ups: evidence from the Italian case

Abstract We explore the local factors associated with the emergence of innovative start-ups fostered by a targeted industrial policy intervention in Italy. We focus on the local industrial fabric and the agglomeration mechanisms, namely localization (specialization) economies, diversification economies and the proximity to large firms. Results show that both localization economies and diversification economies are at play. Notably, a greater presence of large firms at local level seems to support the creation of innovative start-ups. Other factors, such us the presence of technical and scientific universities and the urbanization, are found to encourage their formation. The contribution of local factors to the innovative start-up creation is found to be different depending on the regional development conditions. Our analysis outlines the features of a local ecosystem favourable to the emergence of these firms, providing policy makers with suggestions for moulding industrial policies to regional specific needs and to better exploit the local opportunities.

Pricing strategies: who leads and who follows in the air and rail passenger markets in Italy

ABSTRACT In this paper, we aim at empirically uncovering the existence of price leadership in the passenger transport market, whose oligopolistic structure facilitates the strategic interaction among companies, with price being one of the principal elements of competition. The strategic interaction is particularly favoured by the fact that prices are easily observable online by all competitors. The analysis focuses on selected Italian city-pair markets that differ from one another with respect to the degree of inter- and intra-modal competition and to the characteristics of the transport services provided. We exploit this heterogeneity to study transport operators’ strategic interactions in different competitive environments. We find evidence of the existence of price leadership, even though results differ across city-pair markets. In particular, it emerges that the incumbent operator, in either the air or the rail sector, always holds the role of leader.