On the Effects of Suggested Prices in Gasoline Markets
研究了荷兰汽油零售市场中，石油公司公布的建议价格如何影响零售价格变化，发现建议价格包含与成本无关的信息，具有横向协调效应。
Abstract There is a widespread suspicion that suggested prices act as a focal point for individual firms when setting their prices. Oil companies announce suggested prices for gasoline stations in the Dutch retail market. We show that, compared to the gasoline spot market price, suggested prices contain additional information that explains retail price changes. We conclude that suggested prices have a horizontal coordinating effect in the sense that retail prices react to information that suggested prices contain and that is unrelated to firms’ costs (i.e., the information that firms use under normal competitive conditions).