[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/red/sed018/611.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

One Markup to Rule Them All: Taxation by Liquor Pricing Regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Eugenio Miravete

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Jeffrey Thurk

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Katja Seim

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract
Government often chooses simple rules to regulate industry even when firms and consumers are heterogeneous. We show this practice is sub-optimal for a large class of empirically-relevant consumer preferences. We evaluate the implications of in the context of alcohol pricing where the regulator uses a single markup rule that does not vary across products. We estimate an equilibrium model of wholesale pricing and retail demand for horizontally differentiated spirits that allows for heterogeneity in consumer preferences based on observable demographics. We show that the single markup increases market power among upstream firms, particularly small firms whose portfolios are better positioned to take advantage of the policy. For consumers, the single markup acts as a progressive tax by overpricing products favored by the rich. It also decreases aggregate consumer welfare though $16.7\%$ of consumers are better off under the policy. These consumers tend to be older, less wealthy or educated, and minorities. Simple policies therefore generate significant cross-subsidies and may be an effective tool for government to garner favor of key constituencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Eugenio Miravete & Jeffrey Thurk & Katja Seim, 2018. "One Markup to Rule Them All: Taxation by Liquor Pricing Regulation," 2018 Meeting Papers 611, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed018:611
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://red-files-public.s3.amazonaws.com/meetpapers/2018/paper_611.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean‐Pierre Dubé & Jeremy T. Fox & Che‐Lin Su, 2012. "Improving the Numerical Performance of Static and Dynamic Aggregate Discrete Choice Random Coefficients Demand Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(5), pages 2231-2267, September.
    2. Ellen E. Bouchery & Henrick J. Harwood & Jeffrey J. Sacks & Carol J. Simon & Robert D. Brewer, "undated". "Economic Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the U.S., 2006," Mathematica Policy Research Reports f0a7af763751488fafb0eb0ab, Mathematica Policy Research.
    3. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Sales and consumer inventory," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 543-561, September.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    5. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    6. Cerdá, Magdalena & Johnson-Lawrence, Vicki D. & Galea, Sandro, 2011. "Lifetime income patterns and alcohol consumption: Investigating the association between long- and short-term income trajectories and drinking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(8), pages 1178-1185.
    7. Linneman, Peter, 1980. "The Effects of Consumer Safety Standards: The 1973 Mattress Flammability Standard," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 461-479, October.
    8. Brian Adams & Kevin R. Williams, 2019. "Zone Pricing in Retail Oligopoly," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 124-156, February.
    9. Sungjin Cho & John Rust, 2010. "The Flat Rental Puzzle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(2), pages 560-594.
    10. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    11. Meng, Yang & Brennan, Alan & Purshouse, Robin & Hill-McManus, Daniel & Angus, Colin & Holmes, John & Meier, Petra Sylvia, 2014. "Estimation of own and cross price elasticities of alcohol demand in the UK—A pseudo-panel approach using the Living Costs and Food Survey 2001–2009," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 96-103.
    12. Steven T. Berry & Philip A. Haile, 2009. "Nonparametric Identification of Multinomial Choice Demand Models with Heterogeneous Consumers," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1718, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2010.
    13. Somaini Paulo & Wolak Frank A., 2016. "An Algorithm to Estimate the Two-Way Fixed Effects Model," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 143-152, January.
    14. Villas-Boas, Sofia B., 2006. "Vertical relationships between manufacturers and retailers: inference with limited data," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt0z26d2v9, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    15. Waldfogel, Joel, 2003. "Preference Externalities: An Empirical Study of Who Benefits Whom in Differentiated-Product Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(3), pages 557-568, Autumn.
    16. Eugenio J. Miravete & Katja Seim & Jeff Thurk, 2018. "Market Power and the Laffer Curve," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(5), pages 1651-1687, September.
    17. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521766555.
    18. Sofia Berto Villas-Boas, 2007. "Vertical Relationships between Manufacturers and Retailers: Inference with Limited Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(2), pages 625-652.
    19. Emmanuel Saez, 2001. "Using Elasticities to Derive Optimal Income Tax Rates," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(1), pages 205-229.
    20. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Measuring the Implications of Sales and Consumer Inventory Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(6), pages 1637-1673, November.
    21. Finkelstein, Amy & Poterba, James & Rothschild, Casey, 2009. "Redistribution by insurance market regulation: Analyzing a ban on gender-based retirement annuities," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 38-58, January.
    22. Peltzman, Sam, 1976. "Toward a More General Theory of Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 211-240, August.
    23. J. E. Stiglitz & P. Dasgupta, 1971. "Differential Taxation, Public Goods, and Economic Efficiency," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 151-174.
    24. Orbach, Barak Y. & Einav, Liran, 2007. "Uniform prices for differentiated goods: The case of the movie-theater industry," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 129-153.
    25. James B. McDonald, 2008. "Some Generalized Functions for the Size Distribution of Income," Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being, in: Duangkamon Chotikapanich (ed.), Modeling Income Distributions and Lorenz Curves, chapter 3, pages 37-55, Springer.
    26. Aviv Nevo, 2000. "Mergers with Differentiated Products: The Case of the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(3), pages 395-421, Autumn.
    27. repec:mpr:mprres:7871 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Jerry Hausman, 1998. "Taxation by Telecommunications Regulation," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 12, pages 29-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. E. Glen Weyl & Michal Fabinger, 2013. "Pass-Through as an Economic Tool: Principles of Incidence under Imperfect Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(3), pages 528-583.
    30. Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell & Kate Smith, 2017. "Design of optimal corrective taxes in the alcohol market," IFS Working Papers W17/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    31. Noll, Roger G., 1989. "Economic perspectives on the politics of regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 22, pages 1253-1287, Elsevier.
    32. 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.
    33. Ben Shiller & Joel Waldfogel, 2011. "Music for a Song: An Empirical Look at Uniform Pricing and Its Alternatives," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 630-660, December.
    34. Igal Hendel & Aviv Nevo, 2006. "Sales and Consumer Inventory," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 543-561, Autumn.
    35. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1972. "The structure of indirect taxation and economic efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 97-119, April.
    36. Katja Seim & Joel Waldfogel, 2013. "Public Monopoly and Economic Efficiency: Evidence from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's Entry Decisions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 831-862, April.
    37. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, April.
    38. Richard A. Posner, 1971. "Taxation by Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 22-50, Spring.
    39. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    40. Igal Hendel, 1999. "Estimating Multiple-Discrete Choice Models: An Application to Computerization Returns," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(2), pages 423-446.
    41. Kopczuk, Wojciech, 2003. "A note on optimal taxation in the presence of externalities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 81-86, July.
    42. Jordan, William A, 1972. "Producer Protection, Prior Market Structure and the Effects of Government Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 151-176, April.
    43. Jerry Hausman, 1998. "Taxation by Telecommunications Regulation," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 53052, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kosonen, Tuomas & Jysmä, Sami & Savolainen, Riikka, 2024. "Studying a Sin Tax Scheme with Multiple Reforms - Lessons for Consumption Taxation," Working Papers 164, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Brantly Callaway & Tong Li & Joel Rodrigue & Yuya Sasaki & Yong Tan, 2024. "Regulation, Emissions and Productivity: Evidence from China’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan," Staff Working Papers 24-7, Bank of Canada.
    3. Eugenio J. Miravete & Katja Seim & Jeff Thurk, 2018. "Market Power and the Laffer Curve," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(5), pages 1651-1687, September.
    4. Rachel Griffith & Martin O’Connell & Kate Smith, 2022. "Price Floors and Externality Correction," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(646), pages 2273-2289.
    5. Guojun He & Jeffrey T. LaFrance & Jeffrey M. Perloff & Richard Volpe, 2024. "How do Everyday-Low-Price Supermarkets Adjust Their Prices?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(1), pages 117-146, February.
    6. Martin O'Connell & Kate Smith, 2024. "Optimal Sin Taxation and Market Power," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 34-70, October.
    7. Diwas KC & TI Tongil Kim & Jiayi Liu, 2022. "Electronic prescription monitoring and the opioid epidemic," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(11), pages 4057-4074, November.
    8. Gehrsitz, Markus & Saffer, Henry & Grossman, Michael, 2021. "The effect of changes in alcohol tax differentials on alcohol consumption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    9. Griffith, Rachel & O’Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate, 2019. "Tax design in the alcohol market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 20-35.
    10. Victor Aguirregabiria & Francis Guiton, 2022. "Decentralized Decision-Making in Retail Chains: Evidence from Inventory Management," Working Papers tecipa-722, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    11. Matthew Grennan & Robert J. Town, 2020. "Regulating Innovation with Uncertain Quality: Information, Risk, and Access in Medical Devices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(1), pages 120-161, January.
    12. Daniel Chaves, 2022. "Market Power, Taxation and Product Variety in the Brazilian Automobile Industry," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20227, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    13. Bokhari, Farasat A.S. & Dobson, Paul W. & Morciano, Marcello & Suhrcke, Marc, 2023. "Banning volume discounts to curb excessive consumption: A cautionary tale," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Pál, László & Sándor, Zsolt, 2023. "Comparing procedures for estimating random coefficient logit demand models with a special focus on obtaining global optima," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Hindriks, Jean & Serse, Valerio, 2019. "Heterogeneity in the tax pass-through to spirit retail prices: Evidence from Belgium," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 142-160.
    16. Doi, Naoshi & Kono, Tatsuhito & Suzaki, Izumo, 2023. "Optimizing Multiple Airport Charges with Endogenous Airline Quality Considering the Marginal Cost of Public Funds," MPRA Paper 116176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Amir, Rabah & Jin, Jim Y. & Lasselle, Laurence, 2023. "Uniform, efficient and independent Ramsey taxes across markets," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 373-386.
    18. Johannes Kasinger, 2024. "Shrouded Sin Taxes," Papers 2409.01493, arXiv.org.
    19. Brett Hollenbeck & Kosuke Uetake, 2021. "Taxation and market power in the legal marijuana industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(3), pages 559-595, September.
    20. Gayle, Philip & Faheem, Adeel, 2024. "Post and Hold Regulation and Competitive Conduct: Evidence from the U.S. Beer Industry," MPRA Paper 122541, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Simon Cowan, 2018. "Regulating monopoly price discrimination," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 1-13, August.
    22. Richards, Timothy J. & Paudel, Ujjwol, 2024. "Minimum Wages and Pass-Through," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343648, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eugenio J. Miravete & Katja Seim & Jeff Thurk, 2018. "Market Power and the Laffer Curve," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(5), pages 1651-1687, September.
    2. Jeff Thurk, 2015. "Measuring the Unequal Implications of One Size Fits All Regulation," 2015 Meeting Papers 1251, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Miravete, Eugenio & Seim, Katja & Thurk, Jeff, 2013. "Complexity, Efficiency, and Fairness of Multi-Product Monopoly Pricing," CEPR Discussion Papers 9641, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Martin O'Connell & Kate Smith, 2024. "Optimal Sin Taxation and Market Power," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 34-70, October.
    5. Victor Aguirregabiria & Margaret Slade, 2017. "Empirical models of firms and industries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1445-1488, December.
    6. Griffith, Rachel & O’Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate, 2019. "Tax design in the alcohol market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 20-35.
    7. Steven T. Berry & Philip A. Haile, 2021. "Foundations of Demand Estimation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2301, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    8. Yonezawa, Koichi & Richards, Timothy J., 2016. "Competitive Package Size Decisions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(4), pages 445-469.
    9. 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.
    10. Charles J. Romeo, 2016. "Incorporating Prior Information into A GMM Objective For Mixed Logit Demand Systems," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 336-363, June.
    11. Tenn, Steven & Froeb, Luke & Tschantz, Steven, 2010. "Mergers when firms compete by choosing both price and promotion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 695-707, November.
    12. Vincent R. Nijs & Kanishka Misra & Karsten Hansen, 2014. "Outsourcing Retail Pricing to a Category Captain: The Role of Information Firewalls," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 66-81, January.
    13. Chen, Chia-Wen, 2014. "Estimating the foreclosure effect of exclusive dealing: Evidence from the entry of specialty beer producers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 47-64.
    14. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Rebecca Hellerstein, 2006. "A Framework for Identifying the Sources of Local-Currency Price Stability with an Empirical Application," 2006 Meeting Papers 625, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Junpei Komiyama & Hajime Shimao, 2018. "Cross Validation Based Model Selection via Generalized Method of Moments," Papers 1807.06993, arXiv.org.
    16. SERSE Valerio,, 2019. "Do sugar taxes affect the right consumers ?," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2019017, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    17. Andrea Stella, 2014. "The Magnitude of Menu Costs: A Structural Estimation," 2014 Meeting Papers 436, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Bonnet, Céline, 2007. "Économétrie de la concurrence entre produits différenciés : théorie et méthodes empiriques," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 83(4), pages 555-580, décembre.
    19. Sun, Yutec & Ishihara, Masakazu, 2019. "A computationally efficient fixed point approach to dynamic structural demand estimation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 208(2), pages 563-584.
    20. Timothy Derdenger, 2014. "Technological tying and the intensity of price competition: An empirical analysis of the video game industry," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 127-165, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:red:sed018:611. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christian Zimmermann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sedddea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.