Product Market Structure Research Articles

Competition, Racism, and Hiring Practices among California Manufacturers, 1860–1882

This paper examines the participation of Chinese men in four California industries in the late 1800s to determine the relationship between product market structure and racist hiring practices. Because white women, a traditional source of cheap labor, were scarce in post-Gold Rush California, white employers hired Chinese men, despite widespread anti-Chinese racism. As white women became plentiful, the canning and woolen mills industries began to switch to them, whereas the more competitive shoe and cigar industries continued to employ Chinese men. Factors other than market structure, however, resulted in particularly virulent anti-Chinese attitudes in the more competitive industries, and those attitudes indirectly stimulated the exclusionary hiring practices in the less competitive industries.

The Structural Determinants of Union Bargaining Power

This paper investigates the structural determinants of variation in union power across manufacturing industries. Using a pooled sample of unionized establishments from the Expenditure on Employee Compensation Surveys of 1968–72, the author estimates wage equations augmented with measures of product market structure, bargaining structure, and the size distribution of unions. The results suggest that union wage gains are greatest where discretionary pricing power enhances employers' ability to pay and where unions achieve high coverage, practice centralized bargaining, and avoid union fragmentation. On the other hand, centralized bargaining provides no advantage in competitive industries.

A MANAGERIAL MODEL OF THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT MARKET STRUCTURE ON FIRM LOCATION*

ABSTRACT. This paper develops a model of firm location choice based on managerial theory of discretionary behavior. Specifically, it is assumed that the management of the firm maximizes a utility function which incorporates profits and location‐specific amenities. As the firm moves from one prospective location to another, it faces a profit‐amenity constraint imposed by market conditions. The optimal location decision is derived by maximizing the utility function subject to this market‐imposed constraint. After examining the properties of the optimal solution, the impact of various changes in product market structure (including changes from a contestible markets perspective) on the location decision is investigated. A major finding is that the impact of a change in market structure depends upon the nature of the structure change and upon the substitution and income effects induced by the structural change.

The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Optimal Plant Size and Factor Shares

The method for measuring the effects of environmental regulation on the size distribution of industrial plants and the distribution of factor shares described in this paper focuses on the 20 industries with highest per unit pollution abatement costs and the 20 with the lowest costs. The study finds that compliance with environmental laws has not only reduced the number of plants in the affected industries, but has placed a greater burden on small rather than on large plants. Besides redistributing within-industry market shares, environmental regulation has increased the use of capital relative to labor. Although the disproportionate burden placed on small plants in the high abatement cost industries may have been unintended, it is likely that large firms will be less vocal opponents of environmental regulation than are small firms. 22 references, 12 tables.

Product differentiation, prices, and market structure

We examine the effect of cost reductions and advertising on equilibrium prices and the equilibrium market shares. Our equilibrium has the following characteristics; the aggregate demand is the integral of individual demand over consumers, goods are differentiated in the sense of Novshek and Sonnenschein (1979), production functions are constant returns to scale. Cost reductions of a firm, which are due to R&D activity of the firm, lead to declines of equilibrium prices. Advertising of a firm, which is supposed to influence consumers' preferences in favor of the firm, cannot necessarily cause equilibrium prices to go up; one firm can raise its prices, but the other cannot. Contrary to our intuition, cost reductions cannot always enable a firm to capture a larger share.

Product Quality and Market Structure

This article studies the relationship between the level of product quality and the structure of an industry under fully dynamic conditions, in which innovations are assumed to take place successively. We extend the Nerlove-Arrow-Gould model of advertising behavior of a monopolist to the R&D activity of oligopolists under the Cournot-type assumption and the limited joint profit-maximization hypothesis. The comparative static results show that an increase in the number of oligopolists lowers the pace of improvements in the industry's average product quality. But within the context of our model there is no definite relationship between the number of oligopolists and the R&D expenditure-sales ratio.

Product Durability and Market Structure: Some Evidence

CHANGES in product durability disturb existing supply and demand relationships. Whether they occur ultimately depends on expected profits and, therefore, on the degree of competition among sellers. In competitive markets the firm is constrained by the actions of other producers. Being slow to introduce an innovation may force it to leave the industry as consumers turn to the improved products of competitors. Will the monopolist, who faces no such immediate constraints, produce a different quality of product from that which would emerge from competitive markets? Specifically, will product durability be different under alternative industry structures? If so, will monopoly, competition, or some monopolistically competitive structure produce the 'better' product? The 'conventional' view, associated most closely with the work of Martin [28], Kleiman and Ophir [22], Levhari and Srinivasan [24] and Schmalensee [45], asserts that monopolistic firms are likely to shorten product life from that obtainable under competition. The counter or 'revisionist' position, argued most convincingly by Swan [48, 49], states that monopolistic firms will not reduce product durability but instead will extract the monopoly toll by charging higher prices for fewer units of the optimum, competitive durability. Although Swan's 'revisionist' formulation successfully overturned the 'conventional' view, given the latter's assumptions, the assumptions themselves have become central to the continuing debate. In short, under various assumptions both competition and monopoly have been singled out as providing the most congenial environment for reductions in durability.1

QUALITÄTSINFORMATIONEN UND MARKTSTRUKTUREN

SUMMARY Starting with Akerlof's argument that markets deteriorate in quality, price and quantity if there is asymetric information between buyer and seller the paper deals with market institutions which may explain obviously existing market transactions in many markets with high product uncertainty. After short reference to the existing signaling-literature much attention is given to product differentiation and brand names as implicit market signals. Consumer uncertainty is characterized within the distinction between search-, experience- and credence-qualities. A simplified model shows that market structure may be an implicit market signal for goods with uncertainty in experience-qualities. This is the basis for some preliminary hypothesis relating product uncertainty and market structure.

Product Reliability and Market Structure

Product Reliability and Market Structure

Effect of Unionization, Product Market Concentration and Foreign Trade on Inter-Industry Wage Structure

Determinants of the inter-industry wage differentials in Pakistan's manufacturing sector are identified in this study. It is argued that only the skill of the production workers cannot explain all the differences in the wages. Results of this study suggest those workers' organization and industrial characteristic such as profitability, capital intensity and product market structure do have a bearing on industrial wage level.

Market Structure and Buyer Loyalty: A Case Study of the West German Truck Market

WHEN examining the effect of product differentiation expenses on market structure, most studies have concentrated on the estimation of the relationship between advertising intensity and seller concentration. While a number of these studies have found a significant positive relationship (see for example, references [i 6], [17, [9]) others have failed to find any meaningful association (examples being [26] and [6]). The existence of such conflicting evidence is not surprising when it is realized that advertising is only one element within a set of product differentiation expenditures. Given the inadequate nature of the available data relating to expenditure on such items as free test samples, free after-sales service, point of sale advertising, packaging quality, styling and salesman intensity, any assumption as to their being complementary with or substitutes for advertising is, for most industries, little more than a guess. Hence, the problem of establishing a direct line of causality from advertising to concentration. This paper attempts an alternative approach to the problem by examining the relationship between seller concentration and the stock of buyer goodwill created over a period of time by total product differentiation expenses. One of the main objectives of these expenditures is to strengthen the brand by raising purchasers' brand loyalty. Thus, the level of brand loyalty can be used as an indicator of the effectiveness of the various product differentiation expenditures. The most successful differentiators will accumulate buyers at a relatively faster rate leading to an increase in concentration. Within the traditional analytical framework of industrial economics we are emphasizing the fundamental importance of a causal relation running from conduct to the basic conditions of demand and then on to market structure. The line of causality between product differentiation policies and market structure is seen to be indirect rather than direct and is dependent on the competing product differentiation strategies having different degrees of success. In the first section of this paper reasons are advanced for the expectation of a relationship between buyer loyalty and both market share and seller concentration. Section II presents the variables used in estimating the

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND MARKET STRUCTURE

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND MARKET STRUCTURE

Agricultural Product and Factor Markets in Southeast Asia

Previous articleNext article No AccessAgricultural Product and Factor Markets in Southeast AsiaVernon W. RuttanVernon W. Ruttan Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 17, Number 4Jul., 1969 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/450379 Views: 8Total views on this site Citations: 9Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1969 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Gen Endo The key role of intermediaries in Thailand's fresh food distribution system, The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research 24, no.55 (Nov 2014): 544–563.https://doi.org/10.1080/09593969.2014.967363David C. Dawe, Piedad F. Moya, Cheryll B. Casiwan, Jesusa M. Cabling Rice marketing systems in the Philippines and Thailand: Do large numbers of competitive traders ensure good performance?, Food Policy 33, no.55 (Oct 2008): 455–463.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2008.02.001Marites Tiongco, David Dawe Long-term Evolution of Productivity in a Sample of Philippine Rice Farms: Implications for Sustainability and Future Research, World Development 30, no.55 (May 2002): 891–898.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(02)00011-6Y. Hayami, M. Kikuchi, E.B. Marciano Middlemen and peasants in rice marketing in the Philippines, Agricultural Economics 20, no.22 (Mar 1999): 79–93.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.1999.tb00555.xParam Silvapulle, Sisira Jayasuriya TESTING FOR PHILIPPINES RICE MARKET INTEGRATION: A MULTIPLE COINTEGRATION APPROACH, Journal of Agricultural Economics 45, no.33 (Sep 1994): 369–380.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.1994.tb00411.xToshihiko Kawagoe, Yujiro Hayami Farmers and Middlemen in a Transmigration Area in Indonesia 1, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 25, no.33 (Aug 2006): 73–97.https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918912331335649Yujiro HAYAMI, Toshihiko KAWAGOE, Yoshinori MOROOKA MIDDLEMEN AND PEASANTS: THE STRUCTURE OF THE INDONESIAN SOYBEAN MARKET, The Developing Economies 26, no.11 (Mar 2007): 51–67.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1049.1988.tb00122.xNorbert Dannhaeuser Marketing Systems and Rural Development: A Review of Consumer Goods Distribution, Human Organization 46, no.22 (Jun 1987): 177–185.https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.46.2.h388605745325305A. J. H. Latham, Larry Neal The International Market in Rice and Wheat, 1868-1914, The Economic History Review 36, no.22 (May 1983): 260.https://doi.org/10.2307/2595923

Unionism, Concentration, and Wage Changes: Toward a Unified Theory

Investigates the nature of unionism-monopoly-wage increase relationship. Information on several variables which affect wage increases; Relationship between union collective bargaining coverage and an oligopolistic product market structure; Effect of product market on the ability of employers to resist union pressure. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Product Differentiation and Advertising: Some Lessons from Soviet Experience

Previous articleNext article No AccessProduct Differentiation and Advertising: Some Lessons from Soviet ExperienceMarshall I. GoldmanMarshall I. Goldman Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 68, Number 4Aug., 1960 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/258341 Views: 13Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1961 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Ondřej Dufek Advertising on till receipts in socialist Czechoslovakia: language, argumentation and ideology, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing 13, no.11 (Dec 2020): 18–43.https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRM-12-2019-0051Won-Jun LEE , Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business 11, no.55 ( 2020): 27.https://doi.org/10.13106/jidb.2020.vol11.no5.27Shelby D. Hunt The ethics of branding, customer-brand relationships, brand-equity strategy, and branding as a societal institution, Journal of Business Research 95 (Feb 2019): 408–416.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.044Irina Yuzhakova, Michael A. Belch, George E. Belch A Content Analysis of Prime Time Television Commercials Reflecting Advertising Appeals used in Russia, (Jan 2015): 125–130.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17356-6_39Elza Ibroscheva The unbearable lightness of advertising: culture, media and the rise of advertising in socialist Bulgaria, Consumption Markets & Culture 16, no.33 (Jun 2012): 290–310.https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2012.668365Shelby D. Hunt, Robert M. Morgan The Resource-Advantage Theory of Competition, (Mar 2015): 153–206.https://doi.org/10.1108/S1548-6435(2004)0000001008Ludmilla Gricenko Wells Western Concepts, Russian Perspectives: Meanings of Advertising in the Former Soviet Union, Journal of Advertising 23, no.11 (Mar 1994): 83–95.https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1994.10673433Douglas F. Greer The economic benefits and costs of trademarks: Lessons for the developing countries, World Development 7, no.77 (Jul 1979): 683–704.https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(79)90081-0Hiram C. Barksdale, William J. Kelly, Ian MacFarlane The marketing concept in the U.S. and the USSR: An historical analysis, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 6, no.44 (Sep 1978): 258–277.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02732311MICHAEL C. LOVELL PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND MARKET STRUCTURE, Economic Inquiry 8, no.22 (Jun 1970): 120–143.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1970.tb01083.x