Compatibility Choices, Switching Costs, and Data Portability
研究了动态市场中销售互补产品的企业在高转换成本下选择不兼容以软化未来竞争，而数据可移植性通过降低转换成本促使企业更常选择兼容，但仅在非负定价约束下才有利于消费者。
We study mix-and-match compatibility choices of firms selling complementary products in a dynamic setting. Contrary to what happens in a static setting where symmetric firms choose compatibility (Matutes and Regibeau 1988), when switching costs are high and firms make price discrimination based on past purchases, symmetric firms choose incompatibility to soften future competition if the discount factor is large, which harms consumers. Interoperability increases consumer surplus at least for high switching costs. Data portability, by reducing switching costs, induces the firms to choose compatibility more often but, given a compatibility regime, benefits consumers only if a nonnegative pricing constraint binds.