Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:22:06.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Oligopsony/Oligopoly Power and Factor Market Performance: The Case of U.S. Old Newspapers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Aref A. Hervani*
Affiliation:
Business Division, Dalton State College, Dalton, GA

Abstract

This paper derives price-cost margins for the old newspaper (ONP) input market for newsprint manufacture and then examines the effects of two government policies and two variables measuring the market performances of ONP input and newsprint output on the oligopsonist's ONP price-cost margins. In the wastepaper recycling market in particular, the ONP input market has not been successful in using the ONP generated. The outcomes of the study are that various degrees of price distortions existed in the ONP input markets in four regions of the United States during 1972–1995. Demand-side policy had a positive effect and supply-side policy had a negative effect on ONP price–cost margins in all regions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Paper Institute (API). Annual Statistical Summary Recovered Paper Utilization. Paper Recycling Group, American Forest & Paper Association, Washington, DC, April 1995 and 1996.Google Scholar
Bairam, E.L.Homogenous and Nonhomogenous Production Functions. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 1991.Google Scholar
Booth, D.L., Kanetkar, V., Vertinsky, I., and Whistler, D.. “An Empirical Model of Capacity Expansion and Pricing in an Oligopoly with Barometric Price Leadership: A Case Study of the Newsprint Industry in North America.Journal of Industrial Economics 39(March 1991):255276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booton, L.A.Hospital Market Structure and the Return to Nursing Education.The Journal of Human Resources 20(1985):185196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, R.G.Applied Production Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Chang, Y.-M., and Tremblay, V.J.. “Oligopoly Power and Factor Market Performance.Managerial and Decision Economics 12(1991):401409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, R., Davies, S.W., and Waterson, M.. “The Profitability Concentration Relation: Market Power or Efficiency?Journal of Industrial Economics 32(April 1984):435450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coate, M.B.The Dynamics of Price-Cost Margins in Concentrated Industries.Applied Economics 21(February 1989):261272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobb, C.W., and Douglas, P.H.. “A Theory of Production.American Economic Review 18(1928):139165.Google Scholar
Collins, N.R., and Preston, L.E.. “Price-Cost Margins and Industry Structure.Review of Economics and Statistics 51(August 1969):226242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comanor, W.S., and Wilson, T.A.. “Advertising Market Structure and Performance.Review of Economics and Statistics 49(April 1967):423440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comanor, W.S., and Wilson, T.A.. Advertising and Market Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Cotterill, R.WMarket Power in the Retail Food Industry: Evidence from Vermont.Review of Economics and Statistics 68(March 1986):379386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, P.R.Business Margins and Buyer/Seller Power.Review of Economics and Statistics 68(February 1986):333337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dagenais, M.G.The Determination of Newsprint Prices.Canadian Journal of Economic Review 9(March 1976):442461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galbraith, J.American Capitalism, the Concept of Countervailing Power. Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin, 1952.Google Scholar
Goodwin, B.K.Oligopoly Power: A Forgotten Dimension of Food Marketing? Discussion.American Journal of Agricultural Economics 76(December 1994):11631165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, R.E.The Relation between Price and Marginal Cost in Industry U.S.Journal of Political Economy 96(May 1988):921947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausman, J.A.Specification Tests in Econometrics.Econometrica 46(1978):12511271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazledine, T.The Possibility of Price Umbrellas in Canadian Manufacturing Industries.International Journal of Industrial Organization 2(March 1984):251262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hervani, A.A.Oligopsony Elements in the Recycled Wastepaper Market: Existence and Implications.” Ph.D. dissertation. West Virginia University, Morgantown, December 1997.Google Scholar
Hurd, R.Equilibrium Vacancies in a Labor Market Dominated by Non-Profit Firms: The Shortages of Nurses.Review of Economics and Statistics 5(1973):234240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Just, R.E., and Chern, W.S.. “Tomatoes, Technology, and Oligopsony.Bell Journal of Economics 11(1980):584602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landon, J.The Effects of Product Market Concentration on Wage Levels: An Intra-Industry Approach.Industrial and Labor Relations Review 1(1971):237247.Google Scholar
Landon, J., and Peirce, W.. “Discrimination, Monopsony, and Union Power in the Building Trades: A Cross Sectional Analysis.Industrial and Labor Relations Research Association Proceedings 12(1971):254261.Google Scholar
LeBow, D.E.Imperfect Competition and Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation.Economic Inquiry 30(December 1992):177193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerner, A.P.The Concept of Monopoly and the Measurement of Monopoly Power.Review of Economic Studies 29(1934):291199.Google Scholar
Link, C.R., and Landon, J.H.. “Monopsony and Union Power in the Market for Nurses.American Economic Review 9(1990):649659.Google Scholar
Lockwood Post's Directory of the Pulp & Paper Allied Trades. Pulp & Paper Publication (1970-1995). San Francisco: Miller Freeman Publications.Google Scholar
Lustgarten, S.H.The Impact of Buyer Concentration in Manufacturing Industries.The Review of Economics and Statistics 57(April 1975):125132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marion, B.W, Mueller, W.F., Cotterill, R.W., Geithman, F.E., and Schmelzer, J.R.. The Food Retailing Industry: Market Structure, Profits, and Prices. New York: Praeger, 1979.Google Scholar
Marvel, H.P.Concentration and Price in Gasoline Retailing.Concentration and Price. Weiss, Leonard W., ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Mckinney, R.W.. Technology of Paper Recycling. Fiber Research Consultants Ltd, New York, NY, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, B.C.Oligopsony, Vertical Integration, and Output Substitution: Welfare Effects in U.S. Pulpwood Markets.Land Economics 71 (May 1995):193206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nestor, D.V.Partial Static Equilibrium Model of Newsprint Recycling.Applied Economics 24(1992):411417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newmark, C.M.Administrative Control, Buyer Concentration, and Price-Cost Margins.The Review of Economics and Statistics (1986):7479.Google Scholar
Ornstein, S.I.Empirical Uses of the Price-Cost Margins.The Journal of Industrial Economics 24(February 1975):105117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, G.P.The Canadian Newsprint Industry: Econometric Models of Different Market Structures. Bank of Canada Technical Report No. 17, Ontario, 1979.Google Scholar
Shepherd, W.G.The Elements of Market Structure.Review of Economics and Statistics 54(January 1972):2537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar