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Demand for differentiated milk products: implications for price competition

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  • Elena Lopez

    (Department of Economics, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain)

  • Rigoberto A. Lopez

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticult, Storrs, CT 0629-4021)

Abstract

The authors apply the Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995) model to scan data from Boston supermarkets augmented with consumer characteristics data to analyze consumer choices and price competition in a differentiated fluid milk market. Milk characteristics include price, fat content, brand name, and the organic and|or lactose-free nature of the product. Empirical results show that consumer valuation of fat decreases with income, but increases with the number of children. Low-fat and specialty milks, such as organic and lactose-free milks, are preferred by high-income consumers with no children. Although all milks are price elastic at the individual brand level, the cross-price elasticities are quite low and negligible for specialty milks. Based on calculated Lerner indexes, private label milks have the highest percent markups despite their lower prices, whereas specialty milks have the lowest markups despite their higher prices, which attests to a greater degree of market power for conventional and particularly for private label milk. [JEL Classification: D12, D40, L11, L81]. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/agr.20219
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. in its journal Agribusiness.

Volume (Year): 25 (2009)
Issue (Month): 4 ()
Pages: 453-465

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Handle: RePEc:wly:agribz:v:25:y:2009:i:4:p:453-465

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Web page: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6297

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  1. Sofia Berto Villas-Boas, 2007. "Vertical Relationships between Manufacturers and Retailers: Inference with Limited Data," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 625-652, 04.
  2. Benaissa Chidmi & Rigoberto A. Lopez & Ronald W. Cotterill, 2005. "Retail oligopoly power, dairy compact, and Boston milk prices," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 477-491.
  3. Jerry HAUSMAN & Gregory LEONARD & J. Douglas ZONA, 1994. "Competitive Analysis with Differentiated Products," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ENSAE, issue 34, pages 159-180.
  4. Rebecca Hellerstein, 2004. "Who Bears the Cost of a Change in the Exchange Rate?," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 589, Econometric Society.
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  6. Aviv Nevo, 1998. "Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," NBER Working Papers 6387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Johnson, Stanley R. & Stonehouse, D. Peter & Hassan, Zuhair A., 1992. "Market Demand for Dairy Products," Staff General Research Papers 575, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  8. Ronald W. Cotterill & Pierre O. Samson, 2002. "Estimating a Brand-Level Demand System for American Cheese Products to Evaluate Unilateral and Coordinated Market Power Strategies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(3), pages 817-823.
  9. Daniel A. Lass, 2005. "Asymmetric response of retail milk prices in the northeast revisited," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 493-508.
  10. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1975. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 64, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  11. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-26, June.
  12. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-90, July.
  13. Aviv Nevo, 2000. "A Practitioner's Guide to Estimation of Random-Coefficients Logit Models of Demand," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 513-548, December.
  14. Benaissa Chidmi & Rigoberto A. Lopez, 2007. "Brand-Supermarket Demand for Breakfast Cereals and Retail Competition," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 324-337.
  15. Basak Canan & Ronald W. Cotterill, 2006. "Strategic pricing in a differentiated product oligopoly model: fluid milk in Boston," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 27-33, 07.
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Cited by:
  1. Hovhannisyan, Vardges & Stiegert, Kyle W., 2011. "Vertical Channel Analysis of the U.S. Milk Market," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103631, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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