David P. Byrne

Canadian City Housing Prices and Urban Market Segmentation

The authors provide a detailed empirical analysis of Canadian city housing prices. They examine the long-run relationship between city house prices in Canada from 1981 to 2005 as well as idiosyncratic relations between city prices and city-specific variables. The results suggest that city house prices are only weakly correlated in the long run, and that there is a disconnect between house prices and interest rates. City-specific variables such as union wage levels, new-housing prices, and the issuance of building permits tend to be positively related to city existing-house prices. Surprisingly, there is mixed evidence with respect to standard measures of economic activity, such as labour force and per capita GDP.

How do Consumers Respond to Gasoline Price Cycles

This paper empirically studies how consumers respond to retail gasoline price cycles. Our analysis uses new station-level price data from local markets in Ontario, Canada, and a unique market-level measure of consumer responsiveness based on web traffic from gasoline price reporting websites. We first document how stations use coordinated pricing strategies that give rise to large daily changes in price levels and dispersion in cycling gasoline markets. We then show consumer responsiveness exhibits cycles that move with these price fluctuations. Through a series of tests we find that forward-looking stockpiling behavior by consumers plays a central role in generating these patterns.

Petrol Price Cycles

This article provides an overview of the burgeoning academic literature on price dynamics and price cycles in retail petrol markets. I first present evidence of petrol price cycles and studies that describe what types of petrol markets tend to exhibit price cycles. I further discuss empirical investigations of firms’ pricing strategies in cycling markets. In light of the empirics, I outline theories of competition and consumer demand in petrol markets that help us understand various facets of petrol price cycles.

Gasoline Pricing in the Country and the City

Abstract In many markets, prices adjust quickly when costs rise, yet adjust sluggishly when costs fall. Such asymmetric pricing has received particular attention in retail gasoline where larger asymmetry has been related to greater market power. Using novel data from urban and rural gasoline markets, I document new evidence on this relationship by providing the first estimates of asymmetric pricing from rural towns. I find substantial asymmetry in these markets, show that local market concentration is positively related to asymmetry, and highlight the potential role of role collusion in generating these patterns.

Consumer Search in Retail Gasoline Markets

This paper develops direct tests for search behavior in retail gasoline markets. We exploit a unique market-level dataset that allows us to directly measure search intensity with daily web traffic data from a gasoline price reporting website and perfectly measure daily changes in price levels and dispersion. Our simple yet powerful tests provide strong evidence of both cross-sectional and intertemporal price search.This note presents some simple, direct tests for search and dynamic demand behavior in retail gasoline markets. We exploit a unique market-level dataset that allows us to directly measure search intensity with daily web traffic data from a gasoline price reporting website, and perfectly measure daily changes in price levels and dispersion. We find stark evidence of both search and stockpiling behavior.

Learning to Coordinate: A Study in Retail Gasoline

This paper studies equilibrium selection in the retail gasoline industry. We exploit a unique dataset that contains the universe of station-level prices for an urban market for 15 years, and that encompasses a coordinated equilibrium transition mid-sample. We uncover a gradual, three-year equilibrium transition, whereby dominant firms use price leadership and price experiments to create focal points that coordinate market prices, soften price competition, and enhance retail margins. Our results inform the theory of collusion, with particular relevance to the initiation of collusion and equilibrium selection. We also highlight new insights into merger policy and collusion detection strategies.

Consumer Search in Retail Gasoline Markets: CONSUMER SEARCH IN RETAIL GASOLINE MARKETS

This paper develops direct tests for search behavior in retail gasoline markets. We exploit a unique market‐level dataset that allows us to directly measure search intensity with daily web traffic data from a gasoline price reporting website and perfectly measure daily changes in price levels and dispersion. Our simple yet powerful tests provide strong evidence of both cross‐sectional and intertemporal price search.

An Experimental Study of Monthly Electricity Demand (In)Elasticity

We document substantial rigidity in household electricity demand in response to large price shocks. We partnered with an electricity retailer to run a field experiment in which randomly-selected households received discounts of up to 50% on their total electricity bill or up to 95% off their per unit cost of electricity for a full month. We show that the quantity of electricity consumed was unaffected by these discounts. Exploiting rich billing, smart meter, and survey data, we document responses that are much more inelastic than previously observed in scenarios that raise prices for a few hours or raise or lower prices for indefinitely-long periods of time. Our results hold even among subgroups that we ex-ante believed were most likely to respond.

Smart Meters, Personalized Feedback and Retailer Switching in Electricity Markets

This paper uses a randomized experiment and a structural model to study the extent to which consumers value receiving personalized feedback from smart electricity meters. Using data from a market with retail competition, we examine whether consumers “vote with their feet”, either by switching retailers or exhibiting increased loyalty for their existing retailer, in response to messages they receive based on their smart meter data. We find consumers value being informed: randomly offering information from smart meters to consumers reduces the overall switching rate by 8%. Among customers who engage with their smart meter data we find a 21% reduction in retailer switching.

Supplying Slot Machines to the Poor

As gambling becomes increasingly accessible both in the U.S. and worldwide, governments face an important policy question: how should they exploit the industry’s growth to raise tax revenues while protecting individuals from the detrimental effects of gambling? Using data on slot machines from the largest per-capita gambling market in the world, Australia, we estimate a structural oligopoly model to: (1) quantify firms’ incentives to make gambling accessible among socio-economically disadvantaged groups; and (2) evaluate the effect of government policy (gambling taxes, supply caps and venue smoking bans) on the distribution of slot machine supply, tax revenue and problem gambling prevalence. Classification-H71, L13, L83, L88, I31