Identifying and characterising price leadership in British supermarkets

Price leadership is a concept that lacks precision. We propose a deliberately narrow, falsifiable, definition then develop it, illustrate its feasibility and test it using the two leading British supermarket chains. We find both firms engaging in leading prices upward over a range of products, with the larger being initially more dominant but the smaller increasing leadership activity to take overall leadership over time. However, more price leadership events are price reductions than price increases, consistently led by the smaller firm. Nevertheless, the increases are of larger monetary amounts than the falls, so average basket price increases over time

Price effects of a hospital merger: Heterogeneity across health insurers, hospital products, and hospital locations

In most studies on hospital merger effects, the unit of observation is the merged hospital, whereas the observed price is the weighted average across hospital products and across payers. However, little is known about whether price effects vary between hospital locations, products, and payers. We expand existing bargaining models to allow for heterogeneous price effects and use a difference-in-differences model in which price changes at the merging hospitals are compared with price changes at comparison hospitals. We find evidence of heterogeneous price effects across health insurers, hospital products and hospital locations. These findings have implications for ex ante merger scrutiny

Responsible retailing: Regulating fair and ethical trade

Deregulation in the 1980s and 1990s reaffirmed a market approach to the global trading of goods. Suggestions that this contributed to unfair terms of trade and poor labour conditions led to calls for greater corporate accountability. Following pressure to improve conditions, companies embraced a range of voluntary initiatives under the umbrella of fair and ethical sourcing. This article examines these commitments on the ground, in a global banana supply chain. Taking the case of bananas is significant because the major corporations at each end of the chain are in a potential position to orchestrate fair and ethical trade. Despite this potential for standards to be upheld, the case of bananas suggests that whilst supermarkets continue to drive down consumer prices, voluntary initiatives will fall short of their guarantees. This leads the paper to consider the policy implications of a more regulated approach to fair and equitable trade in the world's supply chains. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Public policy towards the sale of state assets in troubled times: Lessons from the Irish experience

The sale of state assets, both tangible (e.g. commercial firms) and intangible (e.g. radio spectrum), can address budgetary shortfalls. However, drawing on the Irish experience to inform this important issue, it becomes clear that much more is involved in selling state assets in electricity, gas, and transport than ranking such assets by value. Wider public policy considerations need to be taken into account in deciding what to sell and under what conditions. The paper outlines how these wider issues, relating to competition and regulation, can be dealt with so that the sale of state assets will enhance societal welfare