Split Apart: Differentiation, Diversion, and Coordination in the Market for Superpremium Ice Cream

Christopher Sullivan

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2020, vol. 110, 573-78

Abstract: I explore recent behavior in the market for superpremium ice cream. I first document that the flavors offered in supermarkets by Ben & Jerry's and Haagen-Dazs became increasingly differentiated from 2006–2013. Using an estimated model of demand, I show that this differentiation increased profits for both firms. Also, unilateral deviation from the set of products offered in 2013 would have increased variable profits for the deviating firm. These facts, when coupled with anecdotal evidence, suggest that these firms tacitly coordinated their choice of flavors. A companion piece, Sullivan (2019), formalizes this result and quantifies the implications for outcomes and welfare.

JEL-codes: D22 L25 L66 L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20201011 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E120840V1 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20201011.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:apandp:v:110:y:2020:p:573-78

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/subscribe.html

DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201011

Access Statistics for this article

AEA Papers and Proceedings is currently edited by William Johnson and Kelly Markel

More articles in AEA Papers and Proceedings from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().