Algorithmic Pricing and Competition: Empirical Evidence from the German Retail Gasoline Market
研究了德国零售汽油市场采用算法定价对竞争的影响，发现采用算法定价会提高非垄断加油站的利润率，且在双寡头和三家垄断市场中，只有当所有加油站都采用时利润率才会上升。
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.