Replaced with revised version of paper 07/29/10.

2010 AAEA Presidential Address; forthcoming in January 2011 AJAE in shortened version.

Price search enables consumers to overcome information asymmetries, it can lead to a reduction in price dispersion and it can increase consumer surplus, but search is costly. In this paper, an internet survey is conducted among a random sample of 490 drivers in the State of Ohio to answer the...

In order to reduce obesity and associated costs, policymakers are considering various policies, including taxes, to change consumers’ high-calorie consumption habits. We investigate two sweet tax policies aimed at reducing added sweetener consumption. Both a consumption tax on sweet goods and...

This paper shows that the response of agricultural commodity prices in the U.S. related to fluctuations in oil prices in the international market may differ greatly depending on whether the increase is driven by demand or supply shocks in the crude oil market. In the long-run, around 2-7 percent...

In this paper I use a unique and rich data set on prices and promotions from major US supermarkets to examine the nature of National Brand and Private Label interaction. Private labels are priced and promoted competitively with NBs, in a manner suggesting that retails are careful not to lose...