Common charger in the European Union: how unbundling and standardization can affect price comparison?

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Supervisors: Johannes Johnen
Faculty: Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication
Degree label: Master [120] en sciences économiques, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée
Abstract: This master thesis studies how decoupling and USB-C's harmonization may discourage the price-comparison in the context of the common charger in the European Union. By the end of 2024, companies are expected to comply with (i) chargers' harmonization, which is supposed to solve interoperability problems leading to improvements in consumer convenience; (ii) the unbundling of chargers from electronic devices to reduce carbon emissions. However, there are concerns that buying consumers would do less price-comparison under unbundling. In addition, there have been alarming reports on an increasing number of hazardous chargers that could arise with the USB-C's harmonization. It could lead the consumer to examine more the charger's safe use than price-comparing. This thesis assess effects of limited attention on the shopping behavior with a model under unbundling, while another one assess the presence of hazardous products.