IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/doj/eagpap/201401.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Bias in Reduced-Form Estimates of Pass-through

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander MacKay

    (University of Chicago, Department of Economics)

  • Nathan H. Miller

    (Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business)

  • Marc Remer

    (Economic Analysis Group, U.S. Department of Justice)

  • Gloria Sheu

    (Economic Analysis Group, U.S. Department of Justice)

Abstract

We show that, in general, consistent estimates of cost pass-through are not obtained from reduced-form regressions of price on cost. We derive a formal approximation for the bias that arises even under standard orthogonality conditions. We provide guidance on the conditions under which bias may frustrate inference.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander MacKay & Nathan H. Miller & Marc Remer & Gloria Sheu, 2014. "Bias in Reduced-Form Estimates of Pass-through," EAG Discussions Papers 201401, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:doj:eagpap:201401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.justice.gov/atr/public/eag/303951a.html
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew Atkeson & Ariel Burstein, 2008. "Pricing-to-Market, Trade Costs, and International Relative Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1998-2031, December.
    2. Natalia Fabra & Mar Reguant, 2014. "Pass-Through of Emissions Costs in Electricity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2872-2899, September.
    3. Gita Gopinath & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Nicholas Li, 2011. "International Prices, Costs, and Markup Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2450-2486, October.
    4. Miller, Nathan H. & Remer, Marc & Sheu, Gloria, 2013. "Using cost pass-through to calibrate demand," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 451-454.
    5. Severin Borenstein & A. Colin Cameron & Richard Gilbert, 1997. "Do Gasoline Prices Respond Asymmetrically to Crude Oil Price Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 305-339.
    6. Sonia Jaffe & E. Glen Weyl, 2013. "The First-Order Approach to Merger Analysis," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 188-218, November.
    7. David S. Scharfstein & Adi Sunderam, 2013. "Concentration in Mortgage Lending, Refinancing Activity and Mortgage Rates," NBER Working Papers 19156, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dong, Changgui & Wiser, Ryan & Rai, Varun, 2018. "Incentive pass-through for residential solar systems in California," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 154-165.
    2. Takanori Adachi & Muhammad Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through, Incidence, and the Welfare Burden of Taxation in Oligopoly," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1040, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. Nathan H. Miller & Marc Remer & Conor Ryan & Gloria Sheu, 2016. "Pass-Through and the Prediction of Merger Price Effects," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 683-709, December.
    4. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through and Welfare Measures under Imperfect Competition," Papers 1702.04967, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2018.
    5. Robert A. Ritz, 2018. "Oligopolistic competition and welfare," Chapters, in: Luis C. Corchón & Marco A. Marini (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume I, chapter 7, pages 181-200, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Carey, Colleen, 2021. "Sharing the burden of subsidization: Evidence on pass-through from a subsidy revision in Medicare Part D," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Correa-Giraldo, Manuel & Garcia-Rendon, John J. & Perez, Alex, 2021. "Strategic behaviors and transfer of wholesale costs to retail prices in the electricity market: Evidence from Colombia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    8. Nathan H. Miller & Gloria Sheu, 2021. "Quantitative Methods for Evaluating the Unilateral Effects of Mergers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(1), pages 143-177, February.
    9. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through, Incidence, and the Welfare Burden of Taxation in Oligopoly," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1040, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    10. Andre Boik, 2018. "Prediction and Identification in Two-Sided Markets," CESifo Working Paper Series 6857, CESifo.
    11. Duso, Tomaso & Szücs, Florian, 2017. "Market power and heterogeneous pass-through in German electricity retail," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 354-372.
    12. Alex Perez & Jaime Carabali & Luis Meneses, 2022. "Pass-through in Colombia s Unregulated Retail Electricity Market," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(4), pages 575-583, July.

    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. Nathan H. Miller & Marc Remer & Conor Ryan & Gloria Sheu, 2016. "Pass-Through and the Prediction of Merger Price Effects," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 683-709, December.
    2. Christos Genakos & Mario Pagliero, 2022. "Competition and Pass-Through: Evidence from Isolated Markets," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 35-57, October.
    3. Juan Esteban Carranza & Alejandra González-Ramírez & Alex Perez & Juan Sebastián Vélez-Velásquez, 2024. "Exchange rate pass-through in the Colombian car market," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 151-179, February.
    4. Donaldson, Dave & Atkin, David, 2015. "Who?s Getting Globalized? The Size and Implications of Intra-national Trade Costs," CEPR Discussion Papers 10759, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Li, Yumin, 2018. "Incentive pass-through in the California Solar Initiative – An analysis based on third-party contracts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 534-541.
    6. Fontaine, François & Martin, Julien & Mejean, Isabelle, 2020. "Price discrimination within and across EMU markets: Evidence from French exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    7. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through, Incidence, and the Welfare Burden of Taxation in Oligopoly," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1040, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    8. Andreas Fuster & Stephanie H. Lo & Paul S. Willen, 2024. "The Time‐Varying Price of Financial Intermediation in the Mortgage Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(4), pages 2553-2602, August.
    9. Dvir, Eyal & Strasser, Georg, 2018. "Does marketing widen borders? Cross-country price dispersion in the European car market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 134-149.
    10. Andrade, Philippe & Zachariadis, Marios, 2016. "Global versus local shocks in micro price dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 78-92.
    11. Roberto Rigobon & Brent Neiman & Alberto Cavallo, 2013. "Product Introductions, Currency Unions, and the Real Exchange Rate," 2013 Meeting Papers 1357, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Ozge Senay & Alan Sutherland, 2015. "Local Currency Pricing, Foreign Monetary Shocks and Exchange Rate Policy," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 633-661, September.
    13. Sharat Ganapati & Joseph S. Shapiro & Reed Walker, 2016. "The Incidence of Carbon Taxes in U.S. Manufacturing: Lessons from Energy Cost Pass-through," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2038R3, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2018.
    14. E. Glen Weyl & Michal Fabinger, 2013. "Pass-Through as an Economic Tool: Principles of Incidence under Imperfect Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(3), pages 528-583.
    15. Miller, Nathan H. & Remer, Marc & Ryan, Conor & Sheu, Gloria, 2017. "Upward pricing pressure as a predictor of merger price effects," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 216-247.
    16. Sharat Ganapati & Joseph S. Shapiro & Reed Walker, 2020. "Energy Cost Pass-Through in US Manufacturing: Estimates and Implications for Carbon Taxes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 303-342, April.
    17. Chahrour, Ryan & Stevens, Luminita, 2020. "Price dispersion and the border effect," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 135-146.
    18. Jéssica Dutra & Tarun Sabarwal, 2020. "Antitrust analysis with upward pricing pressure and cost efficiencies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-31, January.
    19. Erich Muehlegger & Richard L. Sweeney, 2017. "Pass-Through of Own and Rival Cost Shocks: Evidence from the U.S. Fracking Boom," NBER Working Papers 24025, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Brown, D.P. & Tsai, C.H. & Woo, C.K. & Zarnikau, J. & Zhu, S., 2020. "Residential electricity pricing in Texas's competitive retail market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • F4 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • L3 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:doj:eagpap:201401. 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: Tung Vu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/atrgvus.html .

    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.