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  3. American Economic Review
  4. August 2013
  5. Ownership Consolidation and Product Characteristics: A Study of the US Daily Newspaper Market

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Ownership Consolidation and Product Characteristics: A Study of the US Daily Newspaper Market

  • Ying Fan
American Economic Review
vol. 103, no. 5, August 2013
(pp. 1598–1628)
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Abstract

This paper develops a structural model of newspaper markets to analyze the effects of ownership consolidation, taking into account not only firms' price adjustments but also the adjustments in newspaper characteristics. A new dataset on newspaper prices and characteristics is used to estimate the model. The paper then simulates the effect of a merger in the Minneapolis newspaper market and studies how welfare effects of mergers vary with market characteristics. It finds that ignoring adjustments of product characteristics causes substantial differences in estimated effects of mergers.

Citation

Fan, Ying. 2013. "Ownership Consolidation and Product Characteristics: A Study of the US Daily Newspaper Market." American Economic Review, 103 (5): 1598–1628. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.5.1598

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • G32 Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
  • L13 Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
  • L82 Entertainment; Media
  • M37 Advertising