The Impact of Retail Mergers on Food Prices: Evidence from France

Marie-Laure Allain (1, 2) , Claire Chambolle (1) , Stéphane Turolla (3) , Sofia Villas-Boas (4)

1 X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique
2 CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique
3 SMART-LERECO - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires
4 LBNL - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Berkeley]

This paper analyzes the impact of a merger in the French retail sector on food prices, using a consumer panel data. We perform a di fference-in-diff erences analysis by comparing price changes in stores for which the local market structure is aff ected by the merger to unaff ected stores. In addition, we empirically investigate economic forces behind the observed price changes. On average, we fi nd that the merger signifi cantly raised competitors' prices contemporaneously with merging firms' price increases. Further, we show that competitor prices increase more in local markets that experience larger structural changes in concentration and chain diff erentiation.

Mots clés: Difference-in-differences; Ex-post merger evaluation; Retail grocery sector

Domaines: Economies et finances

Marie-Laure Allain, Claire Chambolle, Stéphane Turolla, Sofia Villas-Boas. The Impact of Retail Mergers on Food Prices: Evidence from France. 2013. ⟨hal-00920460⟩