IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-06l10002.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Studying Differentiated Product Industries using Plant-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Sergio DeSouza

    (Universidade Federal do Ceara)

Abstract

This paper develops a methodology to uncover consumer preferences from a discrete-choice demand model of product differentiation using plant-level data. When prices and quantities are observed, the appropriate strategy for estimating such model is well developed. However, most plant-level data sets only report revenue (sales) and total cost, hampering initial attempts to estimate the model according to standard approaches. This paper offers a way to circumvent this problem by bringing the extra information provided by usually observable aggregate data to determine the relevant parameters. The methodology consists of solving for the demand parameter that matches the total quantity implied by the model of demand and supply to its observable counterpart. Once this parameter is determined it is possible to define welfare measures and perform counterfactual simulations. This methodology is applied to measure the economic impact of a regulatory agency imposing a monopoly break up.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio DeSouza, 2006. "Studying Differentiated Product Industries using Plant-Level Data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(3), pages 1-11.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-06l10002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/EB/2006/Volume12/EB-06L10002A.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jerry Hausman & Gregory Leonard & J. Douglas Zona, 1994. "Competitive Analysis with Differentiated Products," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 34, pages 143-157.
    2. Klette, Tor Jakob & Griliches, Zvi, 1996. "The Inconsistency of Common Scale Estimators When Output Prices Are Unobserved and Endogenous," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(4), pages 343-361, July-Aug..
    3. Richard Schmalensee, 1978. "Entry Deterrence in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 305-327, Autumn.
    4. Ariel Pakes & Paul McGuire, 1994. "Computing Markov-Perfect Nash Equilibria: Numerical Implications of a Dynamic Differentiated Product Model," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(4), pages 555-589, Winter.
    5. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    6. Caplin, Andrew & Nalebuff, Barry, 1991. "Aggregation and Imperfect Competition: On the Existence of Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 25-59, January.
    7. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    8. Haijime Katayama & Shihua Lu & James Tybout, 2003. "Why Plant-Level Productivity Studies are Often Misleading, and an Alternative Approach to Interference," NBER Working Papers 9617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. DeSouza, Sergio Aquino, 2006. "Combining Aggregate and Plant-Level Data to Estimate a Discrete-Choice Demand Model," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 26(2), November.
    2. Sergio Aquino de Souza, 2008. "Combining Prior Information and Data to Uncover the Parameters from the Random Coefficient Discrete? Choice Demand Model," Anais do XXXVI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 36th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 200807211342080, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    3. Katayama, Hajime & Lu, Shihua & Tybout, James R., 2009. "Firm-level productivity studies: Illusions and a solution," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 403-413, May.
    4. Haijime Katayama & Shihua Lu & James Tybout, 2003. "Why Plant-Level Productivity Studies are Often Misleading, and an Alternative Approach to Interference," NBER Working Papers 9617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Aamir Rafique Hashmi & Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2016. "The Relationship between Market Structure and Innovation in Industry Equilibrium: A Case Study of the Global Automobile Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 192-208, March.
    6. Nevo, Aviv, 2001. "Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(2), pages 307-342, March.
    7. Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Aamir Hashmi, 2007. "Market Structure and Innovation: A Dynamic Analysis of the Global Automobile Industry," 2007 Meeting Papers 362, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Dubois, Pierre & Abi Rafeh, Rossi & Griffith, Rachel & O'Connell, Martin, 2023. "The Effects of Sin Taxes and Advertising Restrictions in a Dynamic Equilibrium," TSE Working Papers 23-1480, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Feb 2024.
    9. Margaret Aksoy-Pierson & Gad Allon & Awi Federgruen, 2013. "Price Competition Under Mixed Multinomial Logit Demand Functions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(8), pages 1817-1835, August.
    10. Ciara Whelan & Patrick P. Walsh & Franco Mariuzzo, 2004. "EU merger control in differentiated product industries," Open Access publications 10197/138, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    11. Franco Mariuzzo & Patrick Paul Walsh & Ciara Whelan, 2003. "Firm Size and Market Power in Carbonated Soft Drinks," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 23(3_4), pages 283-299, December.
    12. Ivaldi, Marc & Verboven, Frank, 2005. "Quantifying the effects from horizontal mergers in European competition policy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(9-10), pages 669-691, December.
    13. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2006:i:3:p:1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Victor Aguirregabiria & Gustavo Vicentini, 2006. "Dynamic Spatial Competition Between Multi-Store Firms," Working Papers tecipa-253, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    15. Sergio Aquino de Souza, 2011. "A Simplified Mixed Logit Demand Model with an Application to the Simulation of Entry," Working Papers 04-2011, Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto.
    16. Nevo, Aviv, 1997. "Mergers with Differentiated Products: The Case of Ready-to-Eat Cereal," Competition Policy Center, Working Paper Series qt1d53t6ts, Competition Policy Center, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    17. Charles J. Romeo, 2016. "Incorporating Prior Information into A GMM Objective For Mixed Logit Demand Systems," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 336-363, June.
    18. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.
    19. Ronald W.Cotterill & Donghun Kim, 2006. "Market Structure, Cost Pass-Through and Welfare with Differentiated Products," Working Papers EMS_2006_05, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    20. Nevo, Aviv, 1997. "Measuring Market Power Using Discrete Choice Models Of Demand: An Application To The Ready-To-Eat Cereal Industry," Strategy and Policy in the Food System: Emerging Issues, June 20-21, 1996, Washington, D.C. 25944, Regional Research Project NE-165 Private Strategies, Public Policies, and Food System Performance.
    21. Mariuzzo, Franco & Walsh, Patrick Paul & van Parys, Olivier, 2009. "Estimating the Price Overcharge from Cartelisation of the Irish Automobile Industry," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 40(2), pages 165-182.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrete-Choice Models;

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L0 - Industrial Organization - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-06l10002. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.