Demand, Information, and Competition: Why Do Food Prices Fall at Seasonal Demand Peaks?

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Industrial Economics
Year: 2000
Volume: 48
Issue: 1
Pages: 27-45

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Prices for seasonal food products fall at demand peaks. Price declines are not driven by falling agricultural input prices; indeed, farm to retail margins narrow sharply. I use electronic scanner data from a sample of US supermarkets to show that seasonal price declines are closely linked to market concentration, and are much larger in markets with several rivals than where a single brand dominates. Seasonal demand increases reduce the effective costs of informative advertising, and increased informative advertising by retailers and manufacturers in turn may allow for increased market information and greater price sensitivity on the part of buyers.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:jindec:v:48:y:2000:i:1:p:27-45
Journal Field
Industrial Organization
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25