IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revind/v30y2007i1p63-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When cost improvements harm consumers

Author

Listed:
  • Philippe Bontems
  • Nicolas Gruyer

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that improving cost efficiency in a vertical structure might sometimes be detrimental to consumers. This is in stark contrast with the standard microeconomics result which suggests that the surplus generated by any efficiency gain in production is shared between firms and final consumers, depending on the degree of market power. These new results may apply in contexts such as the diffusion of knowledge and techniques and governmental intervention through income support programs. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Bontems & Nicolas Gruyer, 2007. "When cost improvements harm consumers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(1), pages 63-79, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:30:y:2007:i:1:p:63-79
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-007-9126-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11151-007-9126-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11151-007-9126-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sexton, Richard J. & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2001. "Food processing and distribution: An industrial organization approach," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 863-932, Elsevier.
    2. Barros, Pedro Pita & Brito, Duarte & de Lucena, Diogo, 2006. "Mergers in the food retailing sector: An empirical investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 447-468, February.
    3. Johan Stennek & Frank Verboven, 2006. "Merger Control and Enterprise Competitiveness: Empirical Analysis and Policy Recommendations," Chapters, in: Fabienne IIzkovitz & Roderick Meiklejohn (ed.), European Merger Control, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Stephen F. Hamilton & David Sunding, 1998. "Returns to Public Investments in Agriculture with Imperfect Downstream Competition," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(4), pages 830-838.
    5. Michael A. Salinger, 1988. "Vertical Mergers and Market Foreclosure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(2), pages 345-356.
    6. Stephen F. Hamilton & David L. Sunding, 1997. "The Effect of Farm Supply Shifts on Concentration and Market Power in the Food Processing Sector," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 524-531.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaittisak Kumse & Nobuhiro Suzuki & Takeshi Sato, 2020. "Does oligopsony power matter in price support policy design? Empirical evidence from the Thai Jasmine rice market," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 373-385, May.
    2. Jianyu Yu & Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache, 2016. "Production standards, competition and vertical relationship," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 43(1), pages 79-111.
    3. Réquillart, Vincent & Simioni, Michel & Varela-Irimia, Xose-Luis, 2008. "Imperfect Competition in the Fresh Tomato Industry," IDEI Working Papers 498, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised 25 Feb 2009.
    4. Bontems, Philippe & Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra, 2003. "Predatory Accommodation In Vertical Contracting With Externalities," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22044, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. João Ricardo Faria & Franklin G. Mixon, 2016. "Farmer-Entrepreneurs, Agricultural Innovation, and Explosive Research and Development Cycles," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Ian M. Sheldon, 2021. "Reflections on a Career as an Industrial Organization and International Economist," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 468-499, June.
    7. Caillaud, Bernard & Rey, Patrick, 1995. "Strategic aspects of vertical delegation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 421-431, April.
    8. Jean-Philippe Gervais & Stephen Devadoss, 2006. "Estimating bargaining strengths of Canadian chicken producers and processors using a bilateral monopoly framework," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 159-173.
    9. Jean J. Gabszewicz & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2008. "Upstream Market Foreclosure," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 13-26, January.
    10. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr & Grings, Michael, 2007. "Econometric Analysis Of Market Power On The Ukrainian Market For Raw Milk," 47th Annual Conference, Weihenstephan, Germany, September 26-28, 2007 7575, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    11. Soregaroli, Claudio & Sckokai, Paolo, 2011. "Modelling Agricultural Commodity Markets under Imperfect Competition," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 116012, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Rey, Patrick & Salant, David, 2012. "Abuse of dominance and licensing of intellectual property," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 518-527.
    13. Allain, Marie-Laure & Avignon, Rémi & Chambolle, Claire, 2020. "Purchasing alliances and product variety," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Tomaso Duso & Lea Bernhardt & Joanna Piechucka, 2024. "The Evolution of Theories of Harm in EU Merger Control," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2090, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Irz, Xavier & Mazzocchi, Mario & Réquillart, Vincent & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2015. "Research in Food Economics: past trends and new challenges," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 96(01), pages 187-237, March.
    16. McAndrews, James J. & Strahan, Philip E., 2002. "Deregulation, Correspondent Banking, and the Role of the Federal Reserve," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 320-343, July.
    17. Allain, Marie-Laure & Chambolle, Claire & Rey, Patrick & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Vertical integration as a source of hold-up: An experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    18. Gabszewicz, Jean & Tarola, Ornella & Zanaj, Skerdilajda, 2010. "On uncertainty when it affects successive markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 133-136, February.
    19. Creti, Anna & Sanin, María-Eugenia, 2017. "Does environmental regulation create merger incentives?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 618-630.
    20. Marie-Laure Allain & Rémi Avignon & Claire Chambolle & Hugo Molina, 2022. "Buying groups formation: what effects on competition in the retail industry? [Les centrales d’achat : quels enjeux de concurrence ?]," Post-Print halshs-03693375, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oligopsonists; Retail; Vertical structure; Cost pass-through; L11; L12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:30:y:2007:i:1:p:63-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.