This paper uses an equilibrium model of multipart nonlinear pricing to determine the magnitude of foregone profits due to the implementation of simple tariff options. I then use the available information from a cross-section of independent cellular telephone markets to study how these foregone...

A particular tariff option is said to be foggy when another option or a combination of other tariff options offered by the same firm is always less expensive regardless of the usage profile of any customer. Alternatively tariff fogginess may refer to the whole set of tariff options and it is...

I study how firms actually compete in nonlinear tariffs by analyzingwhether the incumbent and entrant's decisions to offer a given number oftariff options are interrelated. The goal is to shed some light on thosedynamic and strategic aspects of tariff menus that are currently ignoredby...

We present a flexible model of monopoly nonlinear pricing with endogenous participation decisions of heterogeneous consumers. We use computing intensive methods to fit the solution of this model to many nonlinear tariffs offered by incumbent monopolists in several early local U.S. cellular...

I study whether the pricing strategies of competing duopolists in the early US cellular telephone industry can be considered strategic complements or substitutes. In order to do so, I present a multivariate count data regression model that is suitable to test for the existence of strategic...

Telephone services are often characterized by the presence of ‘fixed’ plans, involving only a fixed monthly fee, as well as ‘measured’ plans, with both fixed fees and per-unit charges for usage. Consumers are faced with the decisions of which plan to choose and how much to use the phone...

A recent review of empirical estimates of the elasticity of taxable income (ETI) concluded that ‘the US marginal top rate is far from the top of the Laffer curve’ (Saez et al, 2012, p.42). This paper provides a detailed examination of the analysis underlying this conclusion, and considers...

Imports into New Zealand are tax-free if the duty and GST payable is less than $60. This has resulted in an effective value threshold of between $226 and $399, significantly higher than many of our trading partners. We examine other nations’ thresholds and border practices with a view to...

This paper considers the use of alternative welfare metrics in evaluations of income inequality in a multi-period context. Using Norwegian longitudinal income data, it is found, as in many studies, that inequality is lower when each individual’s annual average income is used as welfare metric,...