Market Structure, Oligopsony Power, and Productivity

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2023
Volume: 113
Issue: 9
Pages: 2382-2410

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

I examine the effects of oligopsony power on allocative efficiency and income redistribution by studying a size regulation in the Chinese tobacco industry that led to ownership consolidation. I show that separate identification of input price markdowns, goods price markups, and productivity is challenging when a subset of inputs is nonsubstitutable, which often holds for materials, and construct and estimate a model to overcome this challenge. I find that the regulation increased input price markdowns by 37 percent on average. This increase in oligopsony power led to a decline in allocative efficiency and redistributed income away from rural households.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:113:y:2023:i:9:p:2382-2410
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29