J Regul Econ
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-018-9359-9
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Price competition in the market for business
telecommunications services
Gregory L. Rosston
1
· Scott J. Savage
2
·
Bradley S. Wimmer
3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract We estimate a two-step control-function model that relates incumbent prices
for small-business telecommunications services to the number of facilities-based
entrants, cost, demand, regulatory conditions, and a correction for endogenous market
structure. Results show that the price effects from entry are understated in ordinary
least squares regressions. When controlling for endogeneity, prices are negatively
related to the number of entrants, indicating that markets without a competitive pres-
ence could exhibit market power. These findings should prove helpful to the Federal
Communications Commission and other State regulators determining the conditions
under which price and other forms of regulation may be relaxed.
Keywords Market power · Market structure · Prices · Telecommunications
JEL Classification L1 · L13 · L96
We thank seminar participants at the WEAI Annual Conferences 2014 and 2016, the editor of this journal,
and an anonymous referee for helpful comments. Xuyi Guo and Alex Stum provided excellent research
assistance. The usual disclaimer applies.
B Gregory L. Rosston
grosston@stanford.edu
Scott J. Savage
scott.savage@colorado.edu
Bradley S. Wimmer
bradley.wimmer@unlv.edu
1
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford, CA 94305-6015, USA
2
Department of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0256, USA
3
Department of Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-6005, USA
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