The 2021 Federal Hospital Price Transparency Final Rule requires hospitals to publicly disclose payer-negotiated prices for services. Despite rising cutaneous melanoma incidence and strong association with geographic ultraviolet light exposure, price transparency for melanoma-specific care is incompletely understood. We assessed regional price compliance and variation among National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers (NCI-CCCs) to inform clinician-patient cost discussions. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted of private payer-specific negotiated prices in 2025 for 53 melanoma-related procedures using publicly available hospital price transparency files. Fifty-eight NCI-CCCs providing adult clinical care were included (data extracted January 1-March 31, 2025). Primary outcomes were markups relative to Medicare reimbursement and price dispersion across and within centers by billing code. Secondary outcomes included compliance with price transparency, markups, and price dispersion by US Census division. Overall, 47/58 centers (81.0%) were federally compliant, with lymph node procedures showing the highest median (IQR) markups relative to Medicare 7.9 (5.5-9.5). Diagnostic testing/imaging demonstrated the greatest price dispersion, with median (IQR) across-center and within-center ratios of 13.4 (9.5-16.6) and 11.2 (9.6-12.7), respectively. The Pacific division had the highest median price markups at 8.9 (3.7-13.4) and included five noncompliant centers. Across divisions, within- and across-center price dispersion were strongly correlated (ρ = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.53 to 1.00). The use of lymph node procedures, diagnostic testing, and imaging presents a key opportunity to mitigate financial toxicity for at-risk patients. Improved clinical accessibility of pricing data and policy intervention is still needed to advance patient-centered, value-driven care.

Explosive growth in energy-intensive AI data centers is outstripping the pace of power grid interconnection and transmission expansion. While operational flexibility has been proposed to mitigate this stress, existing processes are often reactive and evaluate projects only after they enter a multi-year interconnection queue. To address this, we introduce a planner-initiated siting framework that integrates (i) reliability-gated screening, (ii) system-wide market-impact assessment under standardized flexibility envelopes (firm, pause, and shift), and (iii) entropy-weighted multi-criteria scoring to produce ranked, pre-certified catalogues of interconnection-ready locations. Applied to a synthetic 2000-bus Texas power system, the framework demonstrates that operational flexibility expands the siting frontier by 9-17% at 1 GW and 19-21% at 2 GW compared to firm operation. Median all-hour average prices remain essentially unchanged ($24.32/MWh for the 2 GW cases), and the shift envelope attenuates peak-hour price dispersion by approximately 3.4% with minimal side effects during off-peak hours. Utilizing pre-certified envelopes to bypass major transmission reinforcements, this workflow enables first energization in 12-18 months-a conservative reduction of 3.5-4 years versus the conventional 5-8 year project-led process. This technology-agnostic framework provides a proactive decision-making tool for system operators and regulators to fast-track large flexible loads while preserving grid reliability and market stability.

Abstract We develop a two-stage oligopoly model of price competition in markets with both informed and uninformed (captive) consumers. The model introduces a novel mechanism through which interfirm collaborative R&D influences market outcomes. In particular, the second stage of the game where firms set prices is a supermodular game allowing us to analyze strategic complementarities in pricing behavior. We show that this type of market friction creates a new channel of influence for collaborative R&D. Our analysis reveals how consumer heterogeneity and cost heterogeneity jointly shape the incentives for collaboration among firms, offering new insights into the design of efficient innovation networks in oligopolistic markets.

The expansion of e-commerce has significantly transformed retail market structures and reoriented consumer behaviour in global economics. The paper analyses the economic implications of e-commerce on conventional brick-and-mortar in specific terms of how the market performance, job market dynamics, price fluctuations, and the growing range of consumer options have been altered. The study is based on a analytical research design, where secondary data and harmonized indicators are used to explain the trend in e-commerce penetration, growth in traditional retail sales, retail employment, price dispersion, and consumer choice expansion over a period. The results suggest that the higher e-commerce penetration strengthens competition and increase in price transparency, which results in the diminishing price dispersion and the rise of market efficiency. Although conventional retail was temporarily affected by the situation, such as closing stores and changing employment, it is possible to implement gradual adaptation in response to omnichannel and digitalisation. Additionally, the paper illuminates the role of digital platforms and algorithm-based systems significantly enhance consumer choice by expanding product range, availability, and personalization. The study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the co-existence and adaptive possibility of traditional retail in a digitally transformed marketplace. The implications of the findings for policymakers, retailers, as well as consumers are on designing sustainable and inclusive retail ecosystems in the digital economy.

Massachusetts is known to be a leader in health policy innovation, especially its near-universal insurance coverage and national benchmark on health care cost growth. However, despite such an advanced policy infrastructure, the Commonwealth is still experiencing increased health care expenditure, limited access to primary care, and long-standing disparities in health outcomes. Current policy studies rightly identify the causes of cost increase, such as administrative complexity, price dispersion, unnecessary utilization, and endemic under-investment in primary care, but fail to go further to identify a structural failure underlying that: the lack of care delivery designs that can transform cost standards into operational change at the point of care. This paper will contend that Massachusetts has exhausted reforms that are focused on measurement, accountability, and refinement of policies in small steps. The second step of reform needs to be a transition to cost benchmarks as retrospective control systems into the intentional design of primary care as an architectural form of care- one that coordinates legal authority, administrative form, workforce placement and payment models around access, equity, and cost containment all at the same time. Based on health policy analysis, health law, health economics, and administrative realities guided by national medical group benchmarks, the paper illustrates why cost containment strategies have not increased access and reduced inequity despite a wide agreement on underlying causes. It determines the structural contradictions inherent in existing delivery models and demonstrates how administrative complexity, misaligned payment, and fragmented governance serve as hidden taxes on access. The conclusion of the analysis is that a sustainable reform within cost growth limits demands rethinking primary care not as a collection of services or care locations, but as a care architecture. In the absence of this change, cost benchmarks will persist as diagnostic, but not system transformation tools, and the policy leadership of Massachusetts will not be connected to lived patient and provider experience.

Abstract Empirical studies find that the pass-through of input cost changes to prices is incomplete: a 10% increase in costs causes downstream prices to rise less than 10%, even at long horizons. Using microdata from gas stations, food products, and manufacturing industries, I find that incomplete pass-through in percentages often disguises complete pass-through in levels: a $1/unit increase in input costs leads to $1/unit higher downstream prices. Pass-through appears incomplete in percentages due to a gap between prices and costs. Complete pass-through in levels contrasts with workhorse macroeconomic models that feature homothetic industry demand systems. I identify an alternative class of demand systems that yields pass-through in levels and highlight four implications. First, measuring pass-through in percentages can lead to spurious evidence of asymmetry and size dependence. Second, pass-through in levels leads to systematic fluctuations in relative price and markup dispersion that are not associated with changes in allocative efficiency. Third, pass-through in levels can explain dynamics of industry gross margins, operating profits, and entry in the data that are at odds with workhorse models. Finally, incorporating pass-through in levels into an input-output model of the U.S. economy better matches the volatility of consumer price inflation and the response of inflation to identified shocks.

The emergence of online markets was initially expected to lower prices and reduce price dispersion. However, empirical evidence does not seem to support these expectations. In this article, we first propose a mechanism that can explain these findings: selective information—arising from filter bubbles or echo chambers—may lead to increased price dispersion and higher average prices. Second, we show that these higher prices are not necessarily a cause for concern; in fact, the prevalence of filter bubbles may, somewhat surprisingly, have positive implications for overall welfare.

This study applies Prospect Theory to examine how star rating classification affects the relationship between price dispersion, price fairness, and customers' decisions when choosing a hotel and booking channel. Data were collected from 207 hotel customers using Trivago’s metasearch engine in a scenario-based experimental design to test the hypotheses. The findings show that star ratings significantly influence hotel booking choices, with customers favouring cheaper options in wide price dispersion scenarios and more expensive options in narrow price dispersion scenarios. This study contributes to the literature by extending Prospect Theory to metasearch platforms and revealing how star ratings moderate the effects of price dispersion and fairness on the booking channel. The results provide valuable insights for hotel managers and online travel agency practitioners in developing effective marketing and pricing strategies.

ABSTRACT We study the pricing of homogeneous products sold to customers who consider different sets of suppliers. We identify prices that are stable in the sense that no firm wishes to undercut a rival or to raise its price when rivals are able to respond by offering special deals. We derive stable and dispersed prices across several price‐consideration specifications. We contrast the implications against those of conventional approaches.

ABSTRACT This article investigates the short-term impact of the Alitalia–ITA Airways transition on pricing strategies and market competition in the Italian domestic air transport sector. Using a novel dataset simulating over 21,000 ticket purchases before and after ITA’s market entry, we apply a difference-in-difference approach combined with propensity score matching to estimate the causal effect of this ownership transition. Our results show a significant fare reduction of approximately 25% on affected routes, driven by ITA’s more competitive pricing and reduced intertemporal price dispersion. The study also documents heterogeneous reactions among competing airlines, particularly Ryanair. These findings provide new empirical evidence on how structural changes in flag carrier ownership affect market dynamics, raising important considerations for competition policy and future regulatory design.

Housing Market Frictions and Affordability: A Search-and-Matching Perspective

Housing Market Frictions and Affordability: A Search-and-Matching Perspective

ABSTRACTBackgroundEffective procurement is crucial for securing affordable medicines, yet limited evidence exists on pricing influences in Malaysia’s dynamic pharmaceutical market. This study analysed factors associated with purchased price variation, bidder price dispersion, and higher-tier drug prices within the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) segmented procurement system, focusing on market competition dynamics.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on eight high-expenditure therapeutic subgroups (2017–2021) using data from 19 MOH facilities across five regions. Price variation was calculated as the ratio of observed to minimum brand price, and bidder dispersion as the ratio of highest to lowest quoted price. Higher-tier prices exceeded the median price for a given brand. The Kruskal–Wallis H test was applied to examine distributional differences in purchased drug prices and bidder-quoted prices across categorical variables, while logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with higher-tier pricing (p < 0.05). Factors analysed included geographical zones, facility types, procurement values, therapeutic subgroups, purchased product types, dosage forms and the number of competing agents and products.ResultsAmong 97 drugs from 4,702 purchase records involving 28 suppliers, East Malaysia showed significantly higher price variation, and all regions had greater odds of higher-tier pricing than the Central region (p < 0.05). Lower procurement values were linked to greater price variation and higher-tier pricing (p < 0.05). Imported generics exhibited higher price variation (p < 0.001) but lower prices than innovators and local generics. Procurements with ≥3 competing agents had lower price variation (p < 0.008) but greater bidder dispersion (p < 0.001), while up to five agents increased the likelihood of higher-tier pricing (p < 0.05) compared to 7–12 agents.ConclusionFindings highlight that both market and non-price competition influence procurement efficiency and price stability.

Market Power in Mortgage Pricing: the Role of Referral Lending

Transparency, Repricing, and Price Convergence in Cancer Care.

Personalized vs. Uniform Algorithm Design: The Unintended Consequence of Restrictions in Data Access

Market Power in Mortgage Pricing: the Role of Referral Lending

This study analyzes the determinants of prices for small and medium-sized buildings in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, using actual transaction data and examines how these determinants differ across price levels by jointly applying OLS and quantile regression. The dataset comprises 332 transactions concluded between January 2021 and May 2022, and the hedonic price model includes building, location, and land characteristics, as well as buyer attributes (corporate and non-Seoul buyers), the retail area ratio, and franchise presence. The OLS results show that land and location factors—such as land area, road width, zoning, and subway accessibility—have statistically significant effects on prices, and that buyer characteristics and the retail area ratio also play important roles in explaining small and medium-sized building prices. The quantile regression results indicate that number of floors, land area, road width, subway accessibility, and the retail area ratio consistently emerge as key variables across all quantiles, whereas basement presence, proximity to transfer stations, specific administrative districts, zoning, and buyer characteristics exhibit heterogeneous signs and significance depending on the price level. In particular, corporate buyers have a positive effect on prices on average but a negative effect in the lower-price segment, suggesting that they leverage superior information and bargaining power to acquire properties at relatively lower prices, while non-Seoul buyers show a negative effect on average but a positive effect across all quantiles, indicating a tendency to pay higher prices for small and medium-sized buildings due to the anchoring effect and search costs. By combining OLS and quantile regression, this study provides a multifaceted view of the price structure in the small and medium-sized building market and empirically identifies price- segment-specific features that cannot be captured by mean-based approaches alone. It also demonstrates that, for assets with substantial price dispersion, it is necessary to complement OLS analysis with quantile regression to investigate price-quantile-specific determinants.

Seasonal price volatility of agricultural commoditiesposes significant challenges to farmers and market stakeholdersin Nepal due to climate variability, supply disruptions, andlimited access to predictive market information. This studyanalyzes long-term seasonal price behavior using daily wholesaleprice data from Kalimati Tarkari Bazaar spanning 2013–2023.Machine learning and time-series techniques including FacebookProphet, logistic regression, STL decomposition, and K-meansclustering are employed to examine seasonal patterns, pricevolatility, and future price trends across six Nepali seasons.The results reveal strong and consistent seasonal dependencies,with most vegetables exhibiting peak prices during winter (Hemanta) and lower prices during the monsoon (Barsha). Prophetbased forecasting demonstrates moderate predictive performancewith an average MAE of 32.95 and an average R² of 0.42,effectively capturing trend and seasonal components for mostcommodities. Volatility analysis identifies high-risk commoditieswith substantial price dispersion, while clustering reveals distinctmarket segments based on price levels and variability. Thefindings highlight the importance of seasonal awareness and datadriven forecasting in improving production planning, marketparticipation, and policy formulation in Nepal’s agriculturalsector.

Global energy markets have experienced persistent dispersion in real energy prices, creating structural competitiveness pressures that standard indicators often fail to capture in real time. These pressures have intensified as energy-intensive sectors face asymmetric exposure across advanced and emerging economies. This study addresses two critical gaps in international energy cost competitiveness. The first is a frequency gap: conventional indicators such as the Real Unit Energy Cost (RUEC) are typically published with delays of 2–5 years, limiting their usefulness for timely policy evaluation. Here, both RUEC and the Real Price Level Index for energy (Real PLI)—the ratio of the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) for energy to that for GDP—are measured with only a 2–3-month lag for nine countries—four in Asia, four in Europe, and the U.S. The second is a competitiveness gap that calls for policy responses. Real PLIs indicate that the energy price disadvantages of Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK have widened from 1.76–2.91 times the U.S. level before the pandemic to 2.14–3.28 times by Q3 2025, with the gaps relative to China and India also widening. Once country-specific thresholds are exceeded, output in energy-intensive and trade-exposed (EITE) industries tends to contract disproportionately. These findings highlight that sustainable transitions require not only internationally differentiated burden-sharing but also structural reforms to avoid persistent widening of energy price gaps. The Real PLI framework provides a timely indicator of competitiveness and an early-warning tool, signaling when growing asymmetries may undermine policy feasibility. Policy implications include the need to monitor real energy price dispersion as a core source of competitiveness risk, to strengthen structural measures that stabilize marginal energy costs, and to design transition pathways that account for heterogeneous adjustment pressures across countries.