Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry

Aviv Nevo

Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series from Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley

Abstract: The ready-to-eat cereal industry is characterized by high concentration, high price-cost margins, large advertising-to-sales ratios, and numerous introductions of new products. Previous researchers have concluded that the ready-to-eat cereal industry is a classic example of an industry with nearly collusive pricing behavior and intense non-price competition. This paper empirically examines this conclusion. In particular, I estimate price-cost margins, but more importantly I am able empirically to separate these margins into three sources: (1) that which is due to product differentiation; (2) that which is due to multi-product firm pricing; and (3) that due to potential price collusion. The results suggest that given the demand for different brands of cereal, the first two effects explain most of the observed price-cost markups. I conclude that prices in the industry are consistent with non-collusive pricing behavior, despite the high price-cost margins. Leading firms are able to maintain a portfolio of differentiated products and influence the perceived product quality. It is these two factors that lead to high price-cost margins.

Keywords: Discrete choice models; random coefficients; product differentiation; ready-to-eat cereal industry; market power; price competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-03-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry (2001)
Working Paper: Measuring Market Power in the Ready-To-Eat Cereal Industry (1998)
Working Paper: Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry (1998)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdl:compol:qt7cm5p858

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