Does Concentration Matter? Measurement of Petroleum Merger Price Effects
Daniel Hosken, Louis Silvia, Christopher Taylor
American Economic Review · 2011 · Volume 101 · Issue 3
Abstract
We have estimated the price effects of two changes in market structure resulting from two changes in the ownership of gasoline refineries in the San Francisco Bay area: Tosco's purchase of Unocal's Rodeo refinery in April 1997 and UDS's purchase of Tosco's Avon refinery in August 2000. These events provide a relatively unique opportunity to test a price concentration relationship. If market concentration is related to price, then we should observe prices increase and then decrease by a similar amount following these transactions. We do not find evidence of a consistent price concentration relationship.
Keywords
Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Production, Pricing, and Market Structure, Size Distribution of Firms, Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.