University of California San Diego Price Discrimination in the U.S. Airline Industry Paper Textbook: The Antitrust Revolution: Economics, Competition, and

University of California San Diego Price Discrimination in the U.S. Airline Industry Paper Textbook: The Antitrust Revolution: Economics, Competition, and Policy (7th Edition) by John Kwoka and Lawrence White

For this course, I will accept three different types of original research papers: case study,

empirical analysis, or theoretical analysis. Your paper should have a clear link to what we cover

in this course (lectures and readings).

General Approach

(a) Focus on a common practice of modern firms

Examples: advertising, price discrimination

(b) Focus on a common feature of modern markets

Examples: role of new technology, government regulation

After choosing one of the two general approaches above, you should decide whether you want to

do a case study, an empirical analysis, or a theoretical analysis within that general approach.

(a) A Common Practice of Modern Firms

Select a firm practice that interests you. In preparation for undertaking the research, you should

evaluate the industries and major firms to which this practice appears to be important. Compare

and contrast: why is this practice more prevalent in one industry than another? Why does firm X

adopt this practice more than firm Y?

Brainstorming in this manner should lead you to some interesting research topics.

For a case study, you should examine a particular instance of this practice by a firm (or a select

group of firms) in an industry. In general, you should pick an instance where the practice raises

some public policy concerns. As you are choosing a single instance, I will expect a detailed,

micro-level analysis, along the same lines as the case studies presented in The Antitrust

Revolution.

For an empirical study, you should collect data on firms and/or industries in which these

practice occur in differing amount or form. Use the data to measure either the determinants of the

practice (what are the factors that lead firms to adopt this practice) or the impact of the practice

on firm/industry performance. An ideal paper would examine both. The main constraints would

be [1] the availability of relevant data and [2] familiarity with econometrics and econometrics

software.

For a theoretical study, you can do one of two things: you can either write a literature review

on the recent models proposed by academic economists to explain some aspect of the chosen

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firm practice or write your own model (can and most likely will be an extension of an existing

model). The first option will require you to read and synthesize quite a few academic papers,

some of which will be technical in nature. The second option will require you to gain familiarity

with the analytical tools of modern economics, including constrained optimization and game

theory.

(b) A Common Feature of Modern Markets

This approach is similar to (a) above but focuses on a market feature instead of a firm practice.

Requirements

The outline should be 2-3 pages and the paper should be 15 pages (doubled-spaced, 12-point font,

and 1-inch margins).

I expect the paper to be well-written. Properly document your paper and use formal citation

practices. As a warning, I will prosecute plagiarism to the fullest extent. I do not mind you using

research or information from another source as long as you properly cite it.

A good reference on how to properly cite your sources is the MLA Handbook for Writers of

Research Papers, available in the Langson Library Reference Collection. Related information is

also available online in the MLA Formatting and Style Guide provided by Purdue Online Writing

Lab, located at:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/m…

a_formatting_and_style_guide.html.