Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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Publication

Merger control in differentiated product industries

2006, Whelan, Ciara, Walsh, Patrick P., Mariuzzo, Franco

Given that brands (products) are location specific in terms of coverage of retail stores, we allow consumers to have preferences over location and products to carry distribution costs, alongside preferences and costs over other observable and unobservable product characteristics. We embed these considerations into Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (1995) to jointly estimate demand and cost parameters for brands (products) in Retail Carbonated Soft Drinks. Allowing for location has a very significant impact on estimated primitives and the predictive power of the structural model. As a counterfactual exercise we show the effects on welfare of an equilibrium that results from a change in the distribution of consumer taste for location.

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EU merger control in differentiated product industries

2004-10, Whelan, Ciara, Walsh, Patrick P., Mariuzzo, Franco

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Merger control in differentiated product industries

2005-05, Mariuzzo, Franco, Walsh, Patrick P., Whelan, Ciara

Thresholds defined on the level and change in the HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index) applied to market shares seem to be the main instrument to select notified mergers for investigation in both the EU and US. We question the use of such a selection rule in differentiated products industries. We propose the use of a structural approach to apply HHI thresholds based on profit shares rather than market shares. We illustrate our point using product data for Retail Carbonated Soft Drinks (Price, Market Share and Characteristics). We estimate company (product) mark-ups consistent with a structural model of equilibrium, using demand primitives from a Nested Logit model and a Random Coefficient model. We provide an example where the HHI thresholds based on profit shares identify potentially damaging mergers not captured by applying thresholds to output shares, or conversely, identify mergers of no concern that would be selected on the basis of output shares.

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Corn market dynamics and the Joint Executive Committee (1880-1886)

2009-06, Mariuzzo, Franco, Walsh, Patrick P.

We incorporate previously omitted controls of external conditions in transportation and commodity markets into Porter's (1983) analysis of industry demand, conduct and stability of the JEC railroad cartel. We estimate the equilibrium price path, non-parametrically, and find that the reaction of the JEC in its rate setting to the nature of rate setting, over alternative modes of conveyance, is very much predicted by the theoretical considerations in Haltiwanger and Harrington (1991). Periods of Cartel instability are triggered by unexpected booms in corn markets in New York, amongst other factors. The latter is consistent with the Green and Porter (1984) theory. Keywords: Corn Market Spot and Future Weekly Prices in Chicago and New York, Demand Cycles, Inventory Management in New York, JEC Railroad Cartel Pricing, Outside Transportation Options, Structural Modeling.

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Coverage of retail stores and discrete choice models of demand : estimating price elasticities and welfare effects

2010-01, Mariuzzo, Franco, Walsh, Patrick P., Whelan, Ciara

Consumers' choice set of products within stores can be limited. Ackerberg and Rysman (2005) address this problem by modeling unobserved consumer preferences over products and retail stores, leading to augmented demand specifications. Having Carbonated Soft Drink product level data, where we observe products' store coverage, we are able to estimate their logit, nested logit and random coefficient logit specifications of demand in a structural model of equilibrium. Allowing for store coverage turns out to have a very significant impact on the estimated structural parameters and on the predictive power of the model. Taking these estimated structural parameters we perform a counterfactual whereby stores carry all products in the market. We find systematic increases in price elasticities and welfare in our new equilibrium. Competition in markets is more curtailed than normally assumed in structural models of industries.

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Publication

Embedding consumer taste for location into a structural model of equilibrium

2005-01-20, Whelan, Ciara, Mariuzzo, Franco, Walsh, Patrick P.

Given that brands (products) are location specific in terms of coverage of retail stores, we allow consumers to have preferences over location and products to carry distribution costs, alongside preferences and costs over other observable and unobservable product characteristics. We embed these considerations into Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (1995) to jointly estimate demand and cost parameters for brands (products) in Retail Carbonated Soft Drinks. Allowing for location has a very significant impact on estimated primitives and the predictive power of the structural model. As a counterfactual exercise we show the effects on welfare of an equilibrium that results from a change in the distribution of consumer taste for location.