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Quantifying the Benefits of New Products: The Case of the Minivan

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  • Amil Petrin
Abstract
I develop a technique useful for obtaining more precise estimates of demand and supply curves when constrained to market-level data. It augments the estimation routine with data on the average characteristics of consumers that purchase different products. I apply the technique to the automobile market, estimating the economic effects of the minivan introduction. I show that standard approaches yield results that are meaningfully different from those obtained with my extension. I report benefits accruing to both minivan and non-minivan consumers. I complete the welfare picture by measuring the extent of first- mover advantage and of profit cannibalization both initially by the innovator and later by the imitators. My results support a simple economic story where large improvements in consumers' standard of living arise from competition as firms, ignoring the externalities they impose on one another, cannibalize each others profits by continually seeking new goods that give them some temporary market power.

Suggested Citation

  • Amil Petrin, 2001. "Quantifying the Benefits of New Products: The Case of the Minivan," NBER Working Papers 8227, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8227
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Emi Nakamura & Dawit Zerom, 2010. "Accounting for Incomplete Pass-Through," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(3), pages 1192-1230.
    2. Katherine Ho, 2006. "The welfare effects of restricted hospital choice in the US medical care market," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 1039-1079, November.
    3. Pradeep Chintagunta & Jean-Pierre Dubé & Vishal Singh, 2003. "Balancing Profitability and Customer Welfare in a Supermarket Chain," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 111-147, March.
    4. Banzhaf, H. Spencer, 2002. "Quality Adjustment for Spatially-Delineated Public Goods: Theory and Application to Cost-of-Living Indices in Los Angeles," Discussion Papers 10833, Resources for the Future.
    5. Austan Goolsbee & Amil Petrin, 2001. "The Consumer Gains from Direct Broadcast Satellites and the Competition with Cable Television," NBER Working Papers 8317, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2006. "Globalization and the Gains From Variety," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 541-585.
    7. Claudio Lucarelli & Jeffrey Prince & Kosali Simon, 2012. "The Welfare Impact Of Reducing Choice In Medicare Part D: A Comparison Of Two Regulation Strategies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1155-1177, November.
    8. Spiller, Elisheba & Stephens, Heather M., 2012. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Gasoline Taxes: Why Where We Live Matters," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-30, Resources for the Future.
    9. Friberg, Richard & Huse, Cristian, 2012. "How to use demand systems to evaluate risky projects, with an application to automobile production," CEPR Discussion Papers 9266, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Michael D. Smith, 2003. "Consumer Surplus in the Digital Economy: Estimating the Value of Increased Product Variety at Online Booksellers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1580-1596, November.
    11. Neha Bairoliya & Pinar Karaca-Mandic & Jeffrey S. McCullough & Amil Petrin, 2017. "Consumer Learning and the Entry of Generic Pharmaceuticals," NBER Working Papers 23662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Cláudio Ribeiro de Lucinda, 2010. "Quantifying the Benefits of Multifuel Cars: An Application of Random-Coefficients Logit Model," Working Papers 01-2010, Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto.
    13. C. Robert Clark, 2007. "Advertising Restrictions and Competition in the Children’s Breakfast Cereal Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 757-780.
    14. N. Jonker, 2001. "Constructing Quality Adjusted Price Indexes: a Comparison of Hedonic and Discrete Choice Models," WO Research Memoranda (discontinued) 673, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    15. Eduardo P. S. Fiuza, 2015. "Automobile Demand and Supply in Brazil: Effects of Tax Rebates and Trade Liberalization on Price-marginal Cost Markups in the 1990s," Discussion Papers 0119, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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