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Common Ownership and Competition in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Backus
  • Christopher Conlon
  • Michael Sinkinson
Abstract
Models of firm conduct are the cornerstone of both theoretical and empirical work in industrial organization. A recent contribution (Berry and Haile, 2014) has suggested the use of exclusion restrictions to test alternative conduct models. We propose a pairwise testing procedure based on this idea and show that the power of the test to discriminate between models is tied to the formulation of those restrictions as moments and how they reflect the nonlinearity of equilibrium markups. We apply this test to the ready-to-eat cereal market using detailed scanner and consumer data to evaluate the “common ownership” hypothesis, which has received significant attention. Although we show that the potential magnitude of common ownership effects would be large, our test finds that standard own-firm profit maximization is more consistent with the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Backus & Christopher Conlon & Michael Sinkinson, 2021. "Common Ownership and Competition in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," NBER Working Papers 28350, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28350
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Mogens Fosgerau & Julien Monardo & André de Palma, 2024. "The Inverse Product Differentiation Logit Model," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 329-370, November.
    2. Martin O'Connell & Pierre Dubois & Rachel Griffith, 2022. "The Use of Scanner Data for Economics Research," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 723-745, August.
    3. Steven T. Berry & Philip A. Haile, 2024. "Nonparametric Identification of Differentiated Products Demand Using Micro Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(4), pages 1135-1162, July.
    4. Rosati, Nicoletta & Bomprezzi, Pietro & Martinez Cillero, Maria, 2024. "Critical dimensions in the empirical measurement of common shareholding," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    5. Matthew Backus & Christopher Conlon & Michael Sinkinson, 2021. "Common Ownership in America: 1980–2017," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 273-308, August.
    6. Lysle Boller & Fiona Scott Morton, 2020. "Testing the Theory of Common Stock Ownership," NBER Working Papers 27515, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Magnolfi, Lorenzo & Sullivan, Christopher, 2022. "A comparison of testing and estimation of firm conduct," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    8. Nano Barahona & Cristóbal Otero & Sebastián Otero, 2023. "Equilibrium Effects of Food Labeling Policies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(3), pages 839-868, May.
    9. Andrew Leigh & Adam Triggs, 2021. "Common Ownership of Competing Firms: Evidence from Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(318), pages 333-349, September.
    10. repec:ags:aaea22:343858 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Lømo, Teis Lunde, 2024. "Overlapping ownership, pass-through, and product differentiation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    12. Lauren Falcao Bergquist & Michael Dinerstein, 2020. "Competition and Entry in Agricultural Markets: Experimental Evidence from Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(12), pages 3705-3747, December.
    13. José Azar & Xavier Vives, 2021. "General Equilibrium Oligopoly and Ownership Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 999-1048, May.
    14. Bayona, Anna & López, Ángel L. & Manganelli, Anton-Giulio, 2022. "Common ownership, corporate control and price competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1066-1075.
    15. Li, Xuelin & Liu, Tong & Taylor, Lucian A., 2023. "Common ownership and innovation efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 475-497.
    16. Doi, Naoshi, 2022. "A simple method to estimate discrete-type random coefficients logit models," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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