IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bjafio/v1y2002i1n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Welfare and the Market Power-Efficiency Tradeoff in U.S. Food Processing: A Note

Author

Listed:
  • Lopez Rigoberto A

    (Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA)

  • Lirón-España Carmen

    (Department of Telecommunications & Energy of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA)

Abstract

This article computes the welfare changes from increases in industrial concentration in a sample of 35 U.S. food manufacturing industries, taking into account oligopoly power and efficiency effects. It is estimated that a 1% across-the-board increase in the Herfindahl index would lead to an increase in aggregate social welfare (with increases in 74% of the industries), nearly neutral consumer welfare effects, and increases in producer welfare due to efficiency gains that are not passed on. The results call into question the conventional wisdom that considers welfare losses from market power without considering potential gains in production efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Lopez Rigoberto A & Lirón-España Carmen, 2002. "Social Welfare and the Market Power-Efficiency Tradeoff in U.S. Food Processing: A Note," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-10, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bjafio:v:1:y:2002:i:1:n:5
    DOI: 10.2202/1542-0485.1007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1542-0485.1007
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1542-0485.1007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chambers,Robert G., 1988. "Applied Production Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521314275, June.
    2. repec:bla:econom:v:49:y:1982:i:195:p:277-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:bla:jindec:v:45:y:1997:i:4:p:377-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Eric J. Bartelsman & Wayne Gray, 1996. "The NBER Manufacturing Productivity Database," NBER Technical Working Papers 0205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Bhuyan, Sanjib & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 1995. "Welfare Losses Under Alternative Oligopoly Regimes: The U.S. Food and Tobacco Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 577-587, December.
    6. Bhuyan, Sanjib & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 1995. "Welfare Losses Under Alternative Oligopoly Regimes: The U.S. Food And Tobacco Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Liron-Espana, Carmen & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 2001. "When is Concentration Beneficial?," Research Reports 25201, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    8. Appelbaum, Elie, 1982. "The estimation of the degree of oligopoly power," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 287-299, August.
    9. Everett B. Peterson & John M. Connor, 1995. "A Comparison of Oligopoly Welfare Loss Estimates for U.S. Food Manufacturing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 77(2), pages 300-308.
    10. Rigoberto Lopez & Azzeddine Azzam & Carmen Lirón-España, 2002. "Market Power and/or Efficiency: A Structural Approach," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 20(2), pages 115-126, March.
    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. Bhuyan, Sanjib & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 1998. "What Determines Welfare Losses From Oligopoly Power In The Food And Tobacco Industries?," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-8, October.
    2. Sanjib Bhuyan & Rigoberto A. Lopez, 1998. "Oligopoly Power and Allocative Efficiency in US Food and Tobacco Industries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 434-442, September.
    3. Minseong Kang & Byeong‐Il Ahn, 2023. "Market power and cost‐efficiency effects: Broiler packing industry in South Korea," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1157-1172, October.
    4. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Hirsch, Stefan, 2020. "Comparing methods for markup estimation with an application to EU food retailing," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304272, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Azzeddine Azzam & Rigoberto Lopez & Elena Lopez, 2004. "Imperfect Competition and Total Factor Productivity Growth," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 173-184, November.
    6. Perekhozhuk, Oleksandr, 2007. "Marktstruktur und Preisbildung auf dem ukrainischen Markt für Rohmilch," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 41, number 92322.
    7. Anthony N. Rezitis & Maria A. Kalantzi, 2016. "Evaluating the state of competition and the welfare losses in the Greek manufacturing sector: an extended Hall–Roeger approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1275-1302, June.
    8. Lopez, Rigoberto A. & Bhuyan, Sanjib, 1998. "Determinants of allocative efficiency losses from oligopoly power," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 61-72.
    9. Morakinyo O. Adetutu & Thomas G. Weyman-Jones, 2019. "Fuel Subsidies Versus Market Power: Is There a Countervailing Second-Best Optimum?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(4), pages 1619-1646, December.
    10. Inbae Ji & Chanjin Chung & Jungmin Lee, 2017. "Measuring Oligopsony Power in the U.S. Cattle Procurement Market: Packer Concentration, Cattle Cycle, and Seasonality," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 16-29, January.
    11. Oleksandr Perekhozhuk, 2013. "Modern Concepts for Pricing Analysis in Imperfect Competition Production Factor Market," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 4, pages 99-106, December.
    12. 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.
    13. Azzam, Azzeddine M. & Lopez, Elena & Lopez, Rigoberto A., 2002. "Imperfect Competition and Total Factor Productivity Growth in U.S. Food Processing," Research Reports 25147, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    14. Liang, Jing, 2010. "Three essays on food safety and foodborne illness," ISU General Staff Papers 201001010800002782, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Sckokai, Paolo & Soregaroli, Claudio & Moro, Daniele, 2012. "Estimating Market Power By Retailers In A Dynamic Framework: The Case Of The Italian Pdo Cheese Market," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126703, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Lopez, Rigoberto A. & Zheng, Hualu & Azzam, Azzeddine, 2015. "Oligopoly Power in the Food Industries Revisited: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205113, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Rigoberto A. Lopez & Elena Lopez, 2003. "The impact of imports on price-cost margins: An empirical illustration," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 403-416, April.
    18. Rigoberto Lopez & Azzeddine Azzam & Carmen Lirón-España, 2002. "Market Power and/or Efficiency: A Structural Approach," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 20(2), pages 115-126, March.
    19. Unterschultz, James R. & Jeffrey, Scott R. & Quagrainie, Kwamena K., 2000. "Value-Adding 20 Billion By 2005: Impact At The Alberta Farm Gate," Project Report Series 24049, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    20. Rebecca L. O. Cleary & Rigoberto A. Lopez, 2007. "Is Wal-Mart Good for Competition? Evidence from Milk Prices," Food Marketing Policy Center Research Reports 101, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.

    More about this item

    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:bpj:bjafio:v:1:y:2002:i:1:n:5. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.