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Measuring Market Power in Bilateral Oligopoly: The Wholesale Market for Beef

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  • Schroeter, John R.
  • Azzam, Azzeddine M.
  • Zhang, Mingxia

Abstract

Econometric methods for assessing the degree of market power typically rely on a maintained hypothesis of price-taking behavior on one side of the market or the other. In the analysis of bilateral oligopoly, however, one would like to leave open the question of whether buyers or sellers (or both) behave competitively while allowing for the possible exercise of market power on either side. In this paper, we address the problem of measuring market power in bilateral oligopoly. This requires that we first distinguish among three candidate equilibrium concepts: bilateral price-taking, seller price-taking, and buyer price-taking. Choosing among them comes down to a test of nonnested, nonlinear, simultaneous equation models. Our application to the U.S. wholesale market for beef, characterized by high degrees of concentration among both sellers (beef packers) and buyers (primarily retail grocery chains), reveals seller price-taking among the three candidates to be the most consistent with the data. In particular, the hypothesis of price-taking conduct on both sides of the market can be rejected. This is a conclusion that would not have been reached had we considered monopoly conduct by sellers as the only alternative to perfect competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Schroeter, John R. & Azzam, Azzeddine M. & Zhang, Mingxia, 2000. "Measuring Market Power in Bilateral Oligopoly: The Wholesale Market for Beef," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1777, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genres:1777
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Scalco, Paulo R. & Braga, Marcelo J., 2015. "Identification of Market Power in Bilateral Oligopoly: The Brazilian Wholesale Market of UHT Milk," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212278, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Ander, S., 2006. "Measuring Market Power in German Food Retailing: Regional Evidence," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 41, March.
    3. Steiner, Bodo E., 2007. "Formal beef alliances and alignment challenges: issues in contracting, pricing and quality," Project Report Series 7709, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    4. Chanjin Chung & Em Tostão, 2012. "Effects of horizontal consolidation under bilateral imperfect competition between processors and retailers," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(26), pages 3379-3389, September.
    5. Fang, Yingkai & Asche, Frank, 2021. "Can U.S. import regulations reduce IUU fishing and improve production practices in aquaculture?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    6. Ward, Clement E., 2002. "A Review of Causes for and Consequences of Economic Concentration in the U.S. Meatpacking Industry," CAFRI: Current Agriculture, Food and Resource Issues, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society, issue 3, pages 1-28, January.
    7. Scalco, Paulo Roberto & Braga, Marcelo Jose, 2014. "Measuring the Degree of Oligopsony Power in the Brazilian Raw Milk Market," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, May.
    8. Hayashida, K., 2018. "Bargaining Power between Food Processors and Retailers: Evidence from Japanese Milk Transactions," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277730, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Rodrigo Zeidan & Marcelo Resende, 2009. "Measuring Market Conduct in the Brazilian Cement Industry: A Dynamic Econometric Investigation," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(3), pages 231-244, May.
    10. Valtiala, Juho P. & Rezitis, Anthony N., 2017. "Examining Market Power in the Finnish Dairy Chain," 2017 International Congress, August 28-September 1, 2017, Parma, Italy 261419, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Pasirayi, Simbarashe & Richards, Timothy J., 2023. "Assessing the impact of manufacturer power on private label market share in an equilibrium framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Tian Xia & Brian Sancewich, 2018. "Interaction between buyer power in agricultural procurement and seller power in food retailing, and optimal allocation of anti-trust efforts," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, December.
    13. Marsh, John M. & Brester, Gary W., 2004. "Wholesale-Retail Marketing Margin Behavior in the Beef and Pork Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 1-20, April.
    14. Kinnucan, Henry W., 2003. "Optimal generic advertising in an imperfectly competitive food industry with variable proportions," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 143-158, October.
    15. Bodo E. Steiner, 2007. "Negotiated transfer pricing: Theory and implications for value chains in agribusiness," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 279-292.
    16. Asche, Frank & Nøstbakken, Linda & Tveterås, Sigbjørn, 2009. "When will trade restrictions affect producer behavior: Oligopsony power in international trade," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2009/20, University of Stavanger.
    17. Baoubadi Atozou & Lota D. Tamini & Maurice Doyon, 2022. "Bargaining power and risk from substitutability between products attributes the case of specialty eggs in Canada," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(1), pages 155-169, January.

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