Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 12(1), 113–149 doi:10.1093/joclec/nhv041
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF CONSUMER RESPONSE IN REGULATED MARKETS
Catherine Waddams Price & Minyan Zhu†
ABSTRACT
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has opened two major investiga- Downloaded from tions into the retail energy and banking sectors, and identifies weak consumer re- sponse as a potential theory of harm in both sectors. Consumers of many regulated services, including energy and banking, need to make active moves to switch sup- pliers, with profound consequences for how well the market functions. We identify differences in expected gains across demographic groups, particularly with respect http://jcle.oxfordjournals.org/ to age and income, the associated changes in activity and implications for policy. We find that potential gains and anticipated switching time are associated with changes in consumer activity, but with differences between markets, demographic groups and individuals. Rather than concentrate on the average consumer re- sponse, we find variations across demographic groups, and that well informed vul- nerable consumers are not necessarily less responsive than others, once we control for their expectations. We conclude that sector regulators and agencies who wish to encourage consumer action need to differentiate their policies: strategies to empha-
size potential gains and reduce anticipated switching time are the most likely to in- at University of East Anglia on March 16, 2016 crease consumer activity, but programs need to be tailored to particular markets and target groups if they are to be effective in stimulating consumer activity. JEL: D12; C35; L40; L50
I. INTRODUCTION Consumer behavior is increasingly recognized as a key component of competi- tion policy. If markets are to work well, consumers need to seek better deals to