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Freight Charge Variations in Truck Transport Markets: Price Discrimination or Competitive Pricing?
Author(s) -
Beilock Richard,
Garrod Peter,
Miklius Walter
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1241424
Subject(s) - truck , commodity , price discrimination , service (business) , business , trucking industry , industrial organization , charge (physics) , microeconomics , economics , automotive engineering , marketing , finance , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
It is well known that truck freight rates for different commodities over a given route vary and that rates per unit distance for the same commodity over different routes vary. In previous studies this variation has been attributed to noncompetitive behavior. In this paper a hypothesis that observed variations in truck rates are consistent with competitive behavior is tested using conjoint analysis. Trade‐offs between costs or rates and other attributes of transport service are estimated from experiments using panels of truck brokers and carriers. The results are consistent with competitive behavior in the trucking industry.