Power to Choose? An Analysis of Consumer Inertia in the Residential Electricity Market
利用德克萨斯州住宅电力市场数据，研究消费者惯性（搜索摩擦和品牌优势）如何削弱零售竞争带来的福利，并发现低成本信息干预能显著提升消费者剩余。
Many jurisdictions around the world have deregulated utilities and opened retail markets to competition. However, inertial decision making can diminish consumer benefits of retail competition. Using household-level data from the Texas residential electricity market, we document evidence of consumer inertia. We estimate an econometric model of retail choice to measure two sources of inertia: search frictions/inattention and a brand advantage that consumers afford the incumbent. We find that households rarely search for alternative retailers, and when they do search, households attach a brand advantage to the incumbent. Counterfactual experiments show that low-cost information interventions can notably increase consumer surplus.