This work investigates the effect of upstream and downstream mar- ket concentration on retailers’ price-cost margins using bimonthly data over the period 1989–1992 disaggregated by retailer type and product. In addition to horizontal concentration, differentiation, and cost factors, the...

In 1997, a new legislation banning below-invoice retail prices came into force in France. Individually negotiated discounts could no longer be passed on to consumers, which is equivalent to allowing industry-wide price oors. The anti-competitive effects of such practices are well-known. The...

In their comment, Taylor, Kreisle and Zimmerman use gasoline price data taken from fleet card transactions at selected gasoline stations to re-examine a subset of results presented in Hastings (2004). Bringing new data to re-examine the question is a helpful contribution. Both data sets have...

In a paper in the March 2004 AER, Justine Hastings concludes that the acquisition of an independent gasoline retailer, Thrifty, by a vertically integrated firm, ARCO, is associated with sizable price increases at competing stations. To better understand the mechanism to which she attributes this...

How does an upstream firm determine the size of its distribution network, and what is the role of vertical restraints? To address these questions we develop and estimate two models of outlet entry, starting from the basic trade-off between market expansion and fixed costs. In the coordinated...

We investigate the endogenous determination of contracts in competing vertical chains where upstream and downstream firms bargain first over the type of contract and then over the contract terms. Upstream firms always opt for non-linear contracts, which specify the input quantity and its total...

Slotting allowances are fees paid by manufacturers to get access to retailers’ shelf space. Both in the USA and Europe, the use of slotting allowances has attracted attention in the general press as well as among policy makers and economists. One school of thought claims that slotting...

Empirical work shows that competition is important for promoting economic growth. However, in Japan the promotion of competition has long been compromised by ministerial guidance and exemptions from the competition law. Thus, the level and growth of productivity have been low in many...

This paper aims to investigate, using data on both the placing of automobile dealers and automobile demand and supply variables, the effects of new automobile dealers' entry in previously monopoly markets. First, we identify relevant variables which influence the existence and the number of...

Este trabajo realiza un análisis económico del caso conocido como La Guerra del Plasma, en el cual la reacción de las multitiendas Falabella y París S.A. frente a sus proveedores impidió la realización del Banco de Chile de una feria tecnológica para sus clientes en Abril de 2006. Más...