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Whelan, Ciara
Preferred name
Whelan, Ciara
Official Name
Whelan, Ciara
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
- PublicationThe importance of structural change in industry for growthThe paper documents ongoing job creation and job destruction within 3- digit Irish manufacturing sectors over the period 1973 to 1994. Within sectors of low-technology manufacturing, this was due to the gradual development of historical export product lines and gradual decline in historical domestic oriented production. In contrast, the structural change in jobs within sectors of hightechnology manufacturing resulted from the gradual accumulation of foreign capital with new export product lines and a phasing out of inefficient import substituting industry. Ireland’s industrial performance is shown to be an outcome of such path dependent structural change.
1475 - PublicationIs equating market share to market power a sound economic principle?There is a long history of mapping market structure into market power in economic analysis. This paper addresses the validity of this principle for both homogenous and differentiated products industries. While mapping market share dominance into market power may be acceptable for homogenous goods as a rule of thumb, it is by no means a robust result. In the case of differentiated products industries, there is no theoretical foundation for such a mapping. This paper highlights the need to move towards a structural approach to assessing market power in industries.
381 - PublicationA rationale for repealing the 1987 Groceries OrderA ban on pricing below cost was implemented under the 1987 Groceries Order based on the premise that loss leading used in multi-product retail pricing distorts competition and exploits consumers in the short run, while driving a more concentrated structure and reducing welfare in the long run. Loss leading is examined for multi-product retailers selling in imperfectly competitive market niches with imperfect consumer information. We develop a theoretical argument in a simple two-stage framework that illustrates how loss leading on a subset of products is an equilibrium outcome of price competition that leaves overall welfare equal to that observed under laissez faire.
778 - PublicationPortfolio effects and firm size distribution : carbonated soft drinksWe use rich brand level retail data to demonstrate that the firm size distribution in Carbonated Soft Drinks is mainly an outcome of the degree to which firms own a portfolio of brands across segments of the market, and not from performance within segments. In addition, while the number of firms in each segment is limited by segment size relative to sunk cost and competition in a segment, idiosyncratic firm effects make some firms more likely to participate in any given segment. This feature of the industry is the key to modelling firm size distribution in Carbonated Soft Drinks.
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