Service Shutdowns and Compensation: Cash Refunds or Vouchers?

Government mandated shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a vast number of service cancellations and a heated debate on compensation policies. Service providers pushed for vouchers as a means of compensation, whereas customers demand cash refunds or generous vouchers that compensate for postponed service. Regulators, at the same time, insist that customers must be granted the right to be reimbursed in money. To address the debate, this paper develops an analytical framework to study the profitability and efficiency of different compensation policies following shutdown. Surprisingly, we find that the voucher-only policy dominates the hybrid policy that offers customers t…