IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tuf/tuftec/9807.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effect of Price Advertising on Prices: Evidence in the Wake of 44 Liquormart

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Milyo
  • Joel Waldfogel

Abstract

In May 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Rhode Island's ban on advertising prices of alcoholic beverages, making Rhode Island the subject of a natural experiment for measuring the impact of advertising on prices. Using Massachusetts prices as controls, we find that while advertising stores substantially cut prices of advertised products, prices of other products, at both advertising and non-advertising stores, rise under the advertising regime. We investigate stores' pricing responses to rivals' price advertising and find that small, non-advertising stores raise their prices of products advertised by rivals beyond their baseline price increase, while larger, advertising stores raise by less their prices of rival-advertised products. We find no reductions in price dispersion across stores with the introduction of price advertising. However, those stores that choose to advertise do have lower average prices both before and after the law change. Indirect information on quantities sold, based on Rhode Island Lottery ticket sales, indicate that newspaper-advertising stores draw a higher share of customers after they advertise than before.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Milyo & Joel Waldfogel, 1998. "The Effect of Price Advertising on Prices: Evidence in the Wake of 44 Liquormart," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9807, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
  • Handle: RePEc:tuf:tuftec:9807
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ase.tufts.edu/econ/papers/9807.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eckard, E Woodrow, Jr, 1991. "Competition and the Cigarette TV Advertising Ban," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 29(1), pages 119-133, January.
    2. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and Ripoffs: A Model of Monopolistically Competitive Price Dispersion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 493-510.
    3. Glazer, Amihai, 1981. "Advertising, Information, and Prices-A Case Study," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(4), pages 661-671, October.
    4. Comanor, William S & Wilson, Thomas A, 1979. "The Effect of Advertising on Competition: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 453-476, June.
    5. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    6. D. Grant Devine & Bruce W. Marion, 1979. "The Influence of Consumer Price Information on Retail Pricing and Consumer Behavior," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 61(2), pages 228-237.
    7. Gene M. Grossman & Carl Shapiro, 1984. "Informative Advertising with Differentiated Products," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(1), pages 63-81.
    8. Benham, Lee, 1972. "The Effect of Advertising on the Price of Eyeglasses," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 337-352, October.
    9. Kyle Bagwell & Garey Ramey, 1994. "Advertising and Coordination," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(1), pages 153-171.
    10. Lal, Rajiv & Matutes, Carmen, 1994. "Retail Pricing and Advertising Strategies," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 345-370, July.
    11. Kwoka, John E, Jr, 1984. "Advertising and the Price and Quality of Optometric Services," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(1), pages 211-216, March.
    12. Grant Devine & Bruce Marion, 1979. "The influence of consumer price information on retail pricing and consumer behavior," Framed Field Experiments 00138, The Field Experiments Website.
    13. John A. Rizzo & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 1992. "Advertising and the Price, Quantity, and Quality of Primary Care Physician Services," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 27(3), pages 381-421.
    14. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    15. Peters, Michael, 1984. "Restrictions on Price Advertising," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 472-485, June.
    16. Feldman, Roger D & Begun, James W, 1980. "Does Advertising of Prices Reduce the Mean and Variance of Prices?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(3), pages 487-492, July.
    17. Roger Feldman & James W. Begun, 1978. "The Effects of Advertising Lessons from Optometry," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Physician and Patient Behavior, pages 247-262, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Nelson, Phillip, 1970. "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(2), pages 311-329, March-Apr.
    19. Gerard R. Butters, 1977. "Equilibrium Distributions of Sales and Advertising Prices," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 465-491.
    20. Cady, John F, 1976. "An Estimate of the Price Effects of Restrictions on Drug Price Advertising," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(4), pages 493-510, December.
    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. David Genesove & Avi Simhon, 2015. "Seasonality and the Effect of Advertising on Price," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 199-222, March.
    2. Karen Clay & Ramayya Krishnan & Eric Wolff, 2001. "Prices and Price Dispersion on the Web: Evidence from the Online Book Industry," NBER Chapters, in: E-commerce, pages 521-539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Stone, Michael P. & Miceli, Thomas J., 2012. "Optimal attorney advertising," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 329-338.
    4. Preyas S. Desai & Anand Krishnamoorthy & Preethika Sainam, 2010. "“Call for Prices”: Strategic Implications of Raising Consumers' Costs," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 158-174, 01-02.
    5. C. Robert Clark, 2007. "Advertising Restrictions and Competition in the Children’s Breakfast Cereal Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 757-780.
    6. Rauch, Ferdinand, 2013. "Advertising expenditure and consumer prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 331-341.
    7. Anania, Giovanni & Nisticò, Rosanna, 2014. "Price dispersion and seller heterogeneity in retail food markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 190-201.
    8. Kyle Bagwell & Garey Ramey, 1988. "Advertising, Coordination, and Signaling," Discussion Papers 787, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    9. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    10. Régis Chenavaz & Sajjad M. Jasimuddin, 2017. "An analytical model of the relationship between product quality and advertising," Post-Print hal-01685892, HAL.
    11. Tülin Erdem & Michael Keane & Baohong Sun, 2008. "The impact of advertising on consumer price sensitivity in experience goods markets," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 139-176, June.
    12. Ulrich Doraszelski & Sarit Markovich, 2007. "Advertising dynamics and competitive advantage," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(3), pages 557-592, September.
    13. Simon P. Anderson & Régis Renault, 2006. "Advertising Content," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 93-113, March.
    14. Serafin Grundl & You Suk Kim, 2019. "Consumer mistakes and advertising: The case of mortgage refinancing," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 161-213, June.
    15. Anania, Giovanni & Nistico, Rosanna, 2012. "Price dispersion, search costs and consumers and sellers heterogeneity in retail food markets," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 125594, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Sahuguet, Nicolas, 2011. "A model of repeat advertising," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 20-22, April.
    17. Zeynep K. Hansen & Marc T. Law, 2008. "The Political Economy of Truth-in-Advertising Regulation during the Progressive Era," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(2), pages 251-269, May.
    18. Ulrich Doraszelski & Sarit Markovich, 2004. "Advertising Dynamics and Competitive Advantage," Computing in Economics and Finance 2004 61, Society for Computational Economics.
    19. Alessandro Bonanno & Francesco Bimbo & Marco Costanigro & Alfons Oude Lansink & Rosaria Viscecchia, 2019. "Credence attributes and the quest for a higher price – a hedonic stochastic frontier approach," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 46(2), pages 163-192.
    20. W. David Bradford & Andrew N. Kleit, 2011. "Can Credence Advertising Effects Be Isolated? Can They Be Negative?: Evidence from Pharmaceuticals," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(1), pages 167-190, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

    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:tuf:tuftec:9807. 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: Marcus Weir (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ase.tufts.edu/economics .

    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.