Determinantes del precio en cervezas: aplicación del modelo de precios hedónicos

Brewery industry in Chile has increased in the last period of time, as is evidenced by different factors, such as the total number of sales, number of imports and per capita beer consumption. Other sources indicate that the average price of beer has also risen, and this factor is one of the most influential in the customer’s decision of what to buy (Maturana, 2002). In Chile no research exists explaining the elements that affect the price of beer in the market, except for a presentation carried out by Contreras, Jara, Rivas and Rodríguez (2009). This research’s objective is to determine which attributes explain the price of beer in Chile. In order to achieve this objective, a list of prices of beer was used, as well as 227 beer samples taken from “The Beer Guide in Chile 2010”, Ibañez (2010). The results of the hedonic price estimation show that the variable that contributes the most in the explanation of the price of beer is “Easter Island”, followed by handmade beers. The score given by beer tasters from the guide was meaningful in the final regression model, however this variable stops being meaningful at the time of correcting for heteroscedasticity