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Monopolization by "Raising Rivals' Costs": The Standard Oil Case

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  • Granitz, Elizabeth
  • Klein, Benjamin

Abstract

Standard monopolized the petroleum industry during the 1870s by cartelizing the stage of production where entry was difficult--petroleum transportation. Standard enforced the transportation cartel by shifting its refinery shipments among railroads to stabilize individual railroad market shares at collusively agreed-on levels. This method of cartel policing was effective because Standard possessed a dominant share of refining, a dominance made possible with the assistance of the railroads. The railroads facilitated Standard's refinery acquisitions and prevented new refiner entry by charging disadvantageously high rates to non-Standard refiners. While Standard used its dominate position in refining to sell refined products at a monopoly price and to purchase crude oil at a monopsony price, Standard did not possess independent market power in refining. Whenever the transportation cartel broke down, Standard's pricing power vanished. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Granitz, Elizabeth & Klein, Benjamin, 1996. "Monopolization by "Raising Rivals' Costs": The Standard Oil Case," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-47, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:39:y:1996:i:1:p:1-47
    DOI: 10.1086/467342
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    1. Telser,Lester G., 1987. "A Theory of Efficient Cooperation and Competition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521306195.
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    2. Micola, Augusto Rupérez & Banal-Estañol, Albert & Bunn, Derek W., 2008. "Incentives and coordination in vertically related energy markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 381-393, August.
    3. Jean J. Gabszewicz & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2008. "Upstream Market Foreclosure," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 13-26, January.
    4. Tilman Klumpp & Xuejuan Su, 2015. "Strategic Investment under Open Access: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 495-521, September.
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    6. Bolanos, Jose A., 2019. "Energy, uncertainty, and entrepreneurship: John D Rockefeller’s sequential approach to transaction costs management in the early oil industry," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100852, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Hüschelrath, Kai, 2008. "Is it Worth all the Trouble? The Costs and Benefits of Antitrust Enforcement," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-107, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. D. Bring & W. Leighton & K. LoPiccalo & C. Matraves & J. Schwarz & D. Waterman, 2015. "The Year in Economics at the FCC, 2014–2015," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(4), pages 437-462, December.
    9. Watzinger, Martin & Schnitzer, Monika, 2022. "The Breakup of the Bell System and its Impact on US Innovation," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 341, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
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    11. Lamoreaux, N., 2019. "The Problem of Bigness: From Standard Oil to Google," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1963, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Gilles Grolleau & Lisette Ibanez & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2007. "Industrialists hand in hand with environmentalists: how eco-labeling schemes can help firms to raise rivals’ costs," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 215-236, December.
    13. Sukkoo Kim, 1998. "The Rise of Multiunit Firms in U.S. Manufacturing," NBER Working Papers 6425, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Margaret C. Levenstein & Valerie Y. Suslow, 2002. "What Determines Cartel Success?," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2002-01, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
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    16. Stephen Martin, 2005. "U.S. Antitrust and EU Competition Policy: Where has the Former Been, Where is the Latter Going?," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 27, Departamento de Economia, Gestão e Engenharia Industrial, Universidade de Aveiro.

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