Efficiencies Brewed: Pricing and Consolidation in the U.S. Beer Industry

Orley Ashenfelter, Daniel Hosken and Matthew Weinberg ()

No 19353, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Merger efficiencies provide the primary justification for why mergers of competitors may benefit consumers. Surprisingly, there is little evidence that efficiencies can offset incentives to raise prices following mergers. We estimate the effects of increased concentration and efficiencies on pricing by using panel scanner data and geographic variation in how the merger of Miller and Coors breweries was expected to increase concentration and reduce costs. All else equal, the average predicted increase in concentration lead to price increases of two percent, but at the mean this was offset by a nearly equal and opposite efficiency effect.

JEL-codes: K21 L1 L4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-eff
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Published as Efficiencies brewed: pricing and consolidation in the US beer industry Orley C. Ashenfelter1, Daniel S. Hosken2 andMatthew C. Weinberg3 The RAND Journal of Economics Volume 46, Issue 2, pages 328–361, Summer 2015

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Journal Article: Efficiencies brewed: pricing and consolidation in the US beer industry (2015)
Working Paper: Efficiencies Brewed: Pricing and Consolidation in the US Beer Industry (2013)
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