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Measuring Market Power in the Ready-To-Eat Cereal Industry

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Author Info
Nevo, Aviv

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Abstract

The ready-to-eat cereal industry is characterized by high concentration, high price-cost margins, large advertising to sales ratios, and numerous introductions of new products. Previous researchers have concluded that the ready-to-eat cereal industry is a classic example of an industry with nearly collusive pricing behavior and intense non-price competition. This paper empirically examines this conclusion. In particular, I estimate price-cost margins, but more importantly I am able empirically to separate these margins into three parts: (1) that which is due to product differentiation; (2) that which is due to multi-product firm pricing; and (3) that due to potential price collusion. The results suggest that given the demand for different brands of cereal, the first two effects explain most of the observed price-cost markups. I conclude that prices in the industry are consistent with non-collusive pricing behavior, despite the high price-cost margins. Leading firms are able to maintain a portfolio of differentiated products, and influence the perceived quality of these products, and it is these two factors that lead to high price-cost margins.

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Paper provided by University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center in its series Research Reports with number 25164.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Handle: RePEc:ags:uconnr:25164

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Related research
Keywords: discrete choice models; random coefficients; product differentiation; ready-to-eat cereal industry; market power; price competition; Agribusiness; Demand and Price Analysis; Industrial Organization;

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Gasmi, F & Laffont, J J & Vuong, Q, 1992. "Econometric Analysis of Collusive Behavior in a Soft-Drink Market," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(2), pages 277-311, Summer.
    Other versions:
  2. Chamberlain, Gary, 1982. "Multivariate regression models for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 5-46, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Aviv Nevo, 1998. "A Research Assistant's Guide to Random Coefficients Discrete Choice Models of Demand," NBER Technical Working Papers 0221, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Nevo, Aviv, 1998. "Identification of the oligopoly solution concept in a differentiated-products industry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 391-395, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Steven Berry & James Levinsohn & Ariel Pakes, 1998. "Differentiated Products Demand Systems from a Combination of Micro and Macro Data: The New Car Market," NBER Working Papers 6481, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Corts, Kenneth S., 1998. "Conduct parameters and the measurement of market power," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 227-250, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Steven Berry & Michael Carnall & Pablo T. Spiller, 1996. "Airline Hubs: Costs, Markups and the Implications of Customer Heterogeneity," NBER Working Papers 5561, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-62, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Daniel McFadden & Kenneth Train, 2000. "Mixed MNL models for discrete response," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 447-470. [Downloadable!]
  11. Stanley, Linda R & Tschirhart, John, 1991. "Hedonic Prices for a Nondurable Good: The Case of Breakfast Cereals," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 537-41, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Pakes, Ariel S, 1986. "Patents as Options: Some Estimates of the Value of Holding European Patent Stocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(4), pages 755-84, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Aviv Nevo, 1997. "Mergers with Differentiated Products: The Case of Ready-to-Eat Cereal," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series CPC99-002, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Richard Schmalensee, 1978. "Entry Deterrence in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 305-327, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Ariel Pakes, 1986. "Patents as Options: Some Estimates of the Value of Holding European Patent Stocks," NBER Working Papers 1340, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Jerry A. Hausman & Gregory Leonard & J. Douglas Zona, 1994. "Competitive Analysis with Differentiated Products," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ADRES, issue 34, pages 07, Avril-Jui. [Downloadable!]
  17. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-26, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Aviv Nevo & Catherine Wolfram, 1999. "Prices and Coupons for Breakfast Cereals," NBER Working Papers 6932, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Hausman, Jerry & McFadden, Daniel, 1984. "Specification Tests for the Multinomial Logit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1219-40, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Fisher, Franklin M & McGowan, John J, 1983. "On the Misuse of Accounting Rates of Return to Infer Monopoly Profits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 82-97, March.
  21. Jerry A. Hausman, 1996. "Valuation of New Goods under Perfect and Imperfect Competition," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of New Goods, pages 207-248 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  22. Hausman, Jerry A & Wise, David A, 1978. "A Conditional Probit Model for Qualitative Choice: Discrete Decisions Recognizing Interdependence and Heterogeneous Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(2), pages 403-26, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  23. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-90, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Hausman, Jerry A., 1983. "Specification and estimation of simultaneous equation models," Handbook of Econometrics, in: Z. Griliches† & M. D. Intriligator (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 391-448 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Aviv Nevo, 1998. "Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," NBER Working Papers 6387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Robert J. Gordon, 1996. "The Economics of New Goods," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bres96-1.
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