Jawboning Cereal: The Campaign to Lower Cereal Prices

This article introduces the Forum by explaining the sequence of events related to the jawboning campaign and subsequent reductions in cereal prices. It also introduces the main issues on the vigor of competition and pricing that are analyzed in subsequent papers. Jawboning as a public policy strategy is assessed and found useful in certain circumstances such as those in the breakfast cereal industry in the mid 1990’s. The jawboning campaign was effective in advancing price competition in an industry that successfully resisted repeated antitrust efforts to promote competition. The RTE cereal industry is now undergoing major structural changes that are on balance pro competitive.