The Impact of Imports on Price-Cost Margins: An Empirical Illustration

This article decomposes the impact of imports on domestic price-cost margins into separate price and cost effects. Using data from 24 food-processing industries, the empirical results show that although the direct impact of imports on prices is always negative, a positive net impact on price-cost margins occurs in industries characterized by low own-price elasticity of demand and diseconomies of scale. Further results show that the disciplining effect of imports is more preponderant the lower the degree of domestic competition.Market power, imports, market structure, international trade, food industry, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade,

WELFARE LOSSES UNDER ALTERNATIVE OLIGOPOLY REGIMES: THE U.S. FOOD AND TOBACCO MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

This article systematically estimates the allocative efficiency losses in the U.S. food and tobacco manufacturing industries under alternative oligopoly pricing regimes using a formal model of oligopoly. Using 1987 data for 44 industries and an industry-wide oligopoly pricing scheme, these losses were estimated at approximately 3% of sales--2% in the food industries and 19% in the tobacco industries. Five additional oligopoly pricing regimes, four of which are price leaderships, are simulated and their results compared and tested relative to the industry-wide pricing regime. Findings underscore the importance of cost structure assumptions and that the impact of the type of oligopoly behavior assumed is not as dramatic when differences in demand and cost specifications are smoothed out.Food and tobacco industries, Market power, Welfare loss, Industrial Organization,

TESTING PROTECTION FOR SALE IN THE FOOD INDUSTRIES

This paper tests the Grossman-Helpman Protection for Sale model using panel data from U.S. food processing industries with endogenous protection, import penetration, and political campaign. The results support the key predictions of the model: organized industries are granted higher protection that decreases with import penetration and the price elasticity of imports. Furthermore, the presence of import quotas raises the level of protection substantially. The estimated weight on aggregate welfare is strikingly similar those found by Goldberg and Maggi (1999) and Gawande and Bandopadhyay (2000), implying that protection is not for sale in these industries.Agribusiness,

OPTIMAL TRANSBOUNDARY WATER DIVERSION: THE CASE OF THE SENEGAL RIVER

This paper ascertains the costs and benefits of diverting water from the Senegal River. Two scenarios are compared to the status quo of inaction: the social planner and the competitive scenarios. Although these two scenarios yield positive present values of net benefits, the social planner scenario would use smaller quantities of water while providing the highest net benefits to society. Given that the benefits are one-sided while the costs are spread over several constituencies that share the river, it is possible for the gainers to compensate the losers, especially the farmers of flood recession agriculture identified as the main deprived group.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

WHAT DETERMINES WELFARE LOSSES FROM OLIGOPOLY POWER IN THE FOOD AND TOBACCO INDUSTRIES?

This paper estimates welfare losses in thirty-eight U.S. food and tobacco industries at the four-digit SIC level, then relates such losses to market structure and conduct variables to identify the welfare loss determinants. Empirical findings indicate that these losses are higher in markets characterized by high export intensity, high advertising expenditures, economies of scale, mergers and acquisitions, and market concentration. In addition, losses are larger in industries that sell finished consumer products and face lower import competition.Agribusiness,

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS AND PEANUT MARKET PERFORMANCE IN SENEGAL

The impacts of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on social welfare are investigated using data from the Senegalese peanut sector. The findings suggest that SAP policies resulted in dramatic decreases in peanut production, undermining the profitability of the peanut processing plants as well. Overall, the Senegalese society suffered net welfare losses.International Development, Production Economics,

MARKET-BASED LAND REFORM AND FARM EFFICIENCY IN COLOMBIA: A DEA APPROACH

This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis to measure scale and technical efficiencies of 925 farms in rural Colombia and a Tobit model to identify the effects of land market characteristics on efficiency. Findings indicate that although larger farms are more scale efficient, they are not more technical efficient than small farms. Participation in land markets increases technical efficiency, indicating a positive potential role for market-based land reform. Further results show that intensity of violence in rural areas results in increased scale efficiency, allegedly through consolidation of land ownership.Industrial Organization, Productivity Analysis,

The Degree and Sources of Oligopsony Power: An Application to the Haitian Coffee Market

Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

Food Protection for Sale

This article tests the Protection for Sale (PFS) model using detailed data from U.S. food processing industries from 1978 to 1992 under alternative import demand specifications. All empirical results support the PFS model predictions and previous empirical work qualitatively. Although welfare weights are very sensitive to import demand specification, a surprising result is that we obtain weights between 2.6 and 3.6 for domestic welfare using import slopes or elasticities derived from domestic demand and supply functions. In contrast, results based on import slopes or elasticities from directly specified import demands (including the Armington model) yield the usual, unrealistically large estimates for the domestic welfare weight. We contend that the latter empirical paradox arises mainly because the explanatory variables tend to be extremely large for industries with low import ratios and/or low estimated elasticities or slopes resulting from relatively volatile import prices. The results with derived import parameters point to a much stronger role of campaign contributions within the PFS model than previously found. They also suggest that the commonly-used Armington estimates may not be appropriate for estimating the PFS model.trade protection, tariffs, lobbying, political economy, food manufacturing, Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, F13, F1, L66, C12,

Home Bias in U.S. Beer Consumption

We apply the Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (1995) market equilibrium model (BLP) to data from 30 brands of beers sold in 12 U.S. cities over 20 quarters (1988-92) to estimate the consumers taste for beer characteristics (price, alcohol content, and calories) as well as for the cultural region of origin (USA, Anglo-European, Germanic, and countries bordering the U.S.). Consumer heterogeneity is allowed with respect to age, income and gender. Overall we end up with 7,200 beer brand observations (30x12x20) and 13,920 (58 random draws x 12 x 20) consumer observations. Empirical results indicate that indeed there is home bias with respect to European beers and somewhat less so with respect to beers from bordering countries (Mexico and Canada). Home bias is more accentuated among older males who are more affluent. Furthermore, the own-price elasticities and the cross price elasticities of demand are higher for foreign beers, indicating a higher degree of loyalty and differentiation for domestic beers.Home bias, beer, country of origin, demand, differentiated products, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,