On the Dynamics of (Anti)Competitive Behaviour in the Airline Industry

Abstract:

This thesis consists of three empirical studies that examine the relationship between different forms of rivalry in monopoly and oligopoly airline markets and the resulting market price outcomes. The ultimate goal of this work is to empirically distinguish the concept of competition from the market structure, which is often conceived as a combination of the number of firms present in a market and their relative market share or dominance. These studies build on economic theory of imperfect competition to determine the incentives for rivalry in each context and in turn develop a measure of the intensity of competition in order to study its effect on market price outcomes. A large part of this thesis focuses on forms and instruments of rivalry that firms may deploy to maintain or expand their market dominance and restrain competition. It therefore studies the dynamics of both competitive and plausibly anticompetitive behaviour in the airline industry.

About the author:

Yannis Kerkemezos (1990) holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and a MSc in Economics and Business from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In September 2015, he joined the Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship group of the Applied Economics department at Erasmus School of Economics as a PhD candidate. His research interests lie in the fields of industrial organization, competition and strategy economics. Yannis currently works as an Economist in the department of Competition and Regulation at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in the Hague.