Railroads and Price Discrimination: The Roles of Competition, Information, and Regulation

James MacDonald

Review of Industrial Organization, 2013, vol. 43, issue 1, 85-101

Abstract: I evaluate railroad price discrimination in three periods: 1870–1886, before the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act; 1945–1975, when rates were regulated but railroads faced extensive intermodal competition; and 1980–2010, after the passage of major regulatory reforms. While price discrimination was widespread in each period, the specific practices varied as the nature of competition, regulation, and the information available to decision-makers changed. The Act focused heavily on price discrimination, and limited some practices while encouraging others. One major weakness of the Act was the restrictions that were imposed on pricing practices that could lead to cost reductions and productivity improvements. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York (outside the USA) 2013

Keywords: Railroad pricing; Price discrimination; Interstate Commerce Act; Railroad regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s11151-013-9390-z

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