Factor supply shortage is a common problem faced by a firm. Solutions
for allocating the limited supply include rationing, interruption and
pricing. While previous research has examined the welfare losses gener
ated by each solution, there is little evidence on their relative magn
itudes within a common framework. The objective of this paper is to sp
ecify a model of firm behaviour under service interruption to estimate
the welfare loss of service interruption. The same model is used to e
stimate the loss due to a price increase intended to resolve a supply
shortage. Using water consumption data collected for Hong Kong, we fin
d that relative to pricing, service interruption is inefficient for wa
ter shortage management.