Options
Whelan, Ciara
Preferred name
Whelan, Ciara
Official Name
Whelan, Ciara
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
- PublicationProduct differentiation and firm size distribution : an application to carbonated soft drinksUsing brand level retail data, the firm size distribution in Carbonated Soft Drinks is shown to be an outcome of the degree to which firms have placed brands effectively (store coverage) across vertical (flavour, packaging, diet attributes) segments of the market. Regularity in the firm size distribution is not disturbed by the nature of short-run brand competition (turbulence in brand market shares) within segments. Remarkably, product differentiation resulting from firms acquiring various portfolios of product attributes and stores in market evolution determines the limiting firm size distribution.
230 - PublicationMerger control in differentiated product industries(University College Dublin. School of Economics, 2005-05)
; ; 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.363 - PublicationFirm performance and the political economy of corporate governance : survey evidence for Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and SloveniaUsing survey data for 220 traditional manufacturing firms over 7 years of transition and 4 CEE countries, we find firms that produced for the EU market under planning consistently outperform those that produced for the CMEA market. Within the previously CMEA market, the best firms were selected to outside privatisation and outperformed insider/state owned firms. Outside privatisation was resisted in EU oriented firms and ownership was found to have no effect on performance. We argue that insider/state ownership in previously CMEA and EU markets builds up political support for the market system during its initial stages, ensuring its long-term success.
1055 - PublicationProduct differentiation and firm size distribution : an application to carbonated soft drinks(Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2002-08)
; Using brand level retail data, the firm size distribution in Carbonated Soft Drinks is shown to be an outcome of the degree to which firms have placed brands effectively (store coverage) across vertical (flavour, packaging, diet attributes) segments of the market. Regularity in the firm size distribution is not disturbed by the nature of short-run brand competition (turbulence in brand market shares) within segments. Remarkably, product differentiation resulting from firms acquiring various portfolios of product attributes and stores in market evolution determines the limiting firm size distribution.557 - PublicationThe optimality of loss leading in multi-product retail pricing - a rationale for repealing the 1987 Groceries Order in IrelandThe Competition Act in 1991 repealed all legally binding Orders in Ireland except for the 1987 Groceries Order. Article 11 of this Order categorically prohibits retail pricing in the grocery sector below the net invoice price of the wholesaler or manufacturer. The vast range of products retailed through outlets and the convenience of 'one stop' shopping result in imperfect costumer information and consumer switching costs. This enables retailers to price below cost on Known-Value-Items (KVIs) to attract customer entry and subsequently impose higher price-cost mark-ups on other non-KVIs, a practice defined as loss leading. This practice was deemed to be essentially predatory in effect by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in 1987. In this paper we examine the potential legitimacy of below cost selling by modeling the optimal pricing of a multi-product retailer in a game-theoretic framework. We show that loss leading is an equilibrium outcome that is socially desirable in an imperfectly competitive market. We also model the repercussions of introducing the ban for equilibrium profits, corresponding services and concentration levels in the market. Our analysis suggests that a removal of the ban in favour of the 1991 Competition Act would be welfare improving.
284 - 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.
267 - PublicationJobless growth through creative destruction : Ireland's industrial development path 1972-2003We document the nature of structural changes in employment to understand “jobless” growth in Irish Manufacturing in the aftermath of EEC/EU membership, 1972-2003. By 1972, forty years of protectionism and fifteen years of export promotion induced the coexistence of large exporting plants with import competing plants within 4-digit industries. During trade liberalisation we document persistent horizontal waves of creative destruction, a decline in traditional import competing plants and an expansion in exporting plants, within each sector. This coexisted with rapid vertical waves of creative destruction in small non-exporting plants which supported exporting growth through forward vertical linkages within each sector.
664 - PublicationPrice dispersion and strategic outcomes : an analysis of the Irish independent grocery sectorThis paper empirically analyses price dispersion between brand within product catgories in the Independent grocery sector. The methodology adopted allows us to discriminate between the impact which various structural demand and supply side features have on price dispersion in both traditional and game-theoretic frameworks. Specifically we estimate how differences in the product cycle, sales structure, distribution structure, and downstream retailer power impact patterns of price dispersion while controlling for idiosyncratic product effects. Our results suggest that competitive pricing of brands in product categories, and hence price dispersion, will rise with a slump in the product cycle, fragmentation in the sales structure, greater distribution coverage in outlets, and factors which restrict downstream retailer power.
297 - 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.
661 - PublicationMerger control in differentiated product industries(MIT Press Journals - Massachusets Institute, 2006)
; ; 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.472