Arbeitspapier

Retail market structure and consumer prices in the euro area

We investigate the empirical relationship between product market competition and prices in the retail grocery sector in the euro area. The study uses micro-data from ACNielsen on chain stores' census characteristics and price levels for a broad variety of products. We construct Herfindahl-Hirschman indices of concentration at different levels of market aggregation (buying group and parent company) to investigate their effects on prices. The analysis confirms the inverse relation between downstream market competition among retailers and price levels for most of the reference products. Though less conclusive in terms of statistical significance, the proposed estimates also point to a welfare enhancing role of buying groups. Our results indicate that buying groups provide a balancing mechanism between retailers' and producers' bargaining power, in support of the countervailing power hypothesis.

ISBN
978-92-899-1152-8
Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: ECB Working Paper ; No. 1744

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
Thema
buying group
market concentration
parent company
price levels
regional Herfindahl-Hirschman indices

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Ciapanna, Emanuela
Rondinelli, Concetta
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
European Central Bank (ECB)
(wo)
Frankfurt a. M.
(wann)
2014

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Ciapanna, Emanuela
  • Rondinelli, Concetta
  • European Central Bank (ECB)

Entstanden

  • 2014

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