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Wine Retail Price Dispersion in the United States: Searching for Expensive Wines?

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  • David A. Jaeger
  • Karl Storchmann

Abstract

Similar to other markets in which deviations from Jevons' "law of one price" is the norm rather than the exception, the retail wine market in the United States is characterized by large price dispersions. Drawing on a large sample of retail prices from wine-searcher.com we find an average per-wine coefficient of variation of 23 percent. Some of this is due to differential market conditions, especially state regulations. Our evidence suggests that dispersion also depends positively on price levels, after controlling for consumer, market, and state heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • David A. Jaeger & Karl Storchmann, 2011. "Wine Retail Price Dispersion in the United States: Searching for Expensive Wines?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 136-141, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:101:y:2011:i:3:p:136-41
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Salience and Consumer Choice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(5), pages 803-843.
    2. de Meza, David & Pathania, Vikram, 2021. "Is the Second-Cheapest Wine a Rip-Off? Economics vs. Psychology in Product-Line Pricing," Working Papers 321852, American Association of Wine Economists.
    3. Nicola Gennaioli & Alberto Martin & Stefano Rossi, 2014. "Sovereign Default, Domestic Banks, and Financial Institutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(2), pages 819-866, April.
    4. Saffer, Henry & Gehrsitz, Markus, 2016. "The effect of post-and-hold laws on alcohol consumption," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 63-71.
    5. François-Charles Wolff, 2016. "Bargaining powers of buyers and sellers on the online diamond market: a double perspective non-parametric analysis," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 244(2), pages 697-718, September.
    6. Anania, Giovanni & Nisticò, Rosanna, 2014. "Price dispersion and seller heterogeneity in retail food markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 190-201.
    7. Antonis Michis & Anna Markidou, 2013. "Determinants of retail wine prices: evidence from Cyprus," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 267-280, August.
    8. de Meza, David & Pathania, Vikram, 2021. "Is the second-cheapest wine a rip-off?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    9. Fran 篩s-Charles Wolff, 2015. "Does price dispersion increase with quality? Evidence from the online diamond market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(55), pages 5996-6009, November.

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