Abstract
Dominant platforms such as Booking.com and Amazon often impose Price Parity Clauses to prevent sellers from charging lower prices on alternative sales channels. We provide quasi-experimental evidence on the full removal of these price restrictions in France in 2015 for three major international hotel groups. Our analysis reveals a limited and non-significant effect on room prices. The external validity of this finding is established by focusing on similar policy interventions in Germany in 2016 and Austria in 2017. Our results imply that the prohibitions of Price Parity Clauses turned out to be ineffective in sizeably reducing final prices for consumers.
JEL codes
- D40: General
- K21: Antitrust Law
- L10: General
- L42: Vertical Restraints • Resale Price Maintenance • Quantity Discounts
Reference
Peiyao Ma, Andrea Mantovani, Carlo Reggiani, Annette Broocks, and Nestor Duch-Brown, “The Price Effects of Banning Price Parity Clauses in the EU: Evidence from International Hotel Groups”, TSE Working Paper, n. 22-1371, September 2022.
See also
Published in
TSE Working Paper, n. 22-1371, September 2022