Abstract: This paper summarizes the progress that has been achieved to date on a research project that explores the pricing behavior of beef packers in the United States. Of particular interest is the increase in the packer spread—the gap between the prices that packers pay to upstream feedlots and the prices that they receive from retailers—that occurred over 2015-2019. To our knowledge, there is no plausible cost-based explanation for the increase in the packer spread during that period. Thus, it is natural to explore the role of market power, and especially whether the beef packers may have been able to exercise buyer power in the market for fed cattle to a greater degree. We focus on the alternative market arrangements (AMAs) that increasingly are used to facilitate transactions between feedlots and packer.

Acerca del expositor: Nathan Miller is Professor at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and Department of Economics. He also serves as an editor at the Journal of Law and Economics and an associate editor at the International Journal of Industrial Organization. His research covers topics in the fields of industrial organization and antitrust economics and has been published in journals such as The American Economic Review, Econometrica, and The RAND Journal of Economics. Prior to joining Georgetown University, Professor Miller served as an economist at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he provided economic analysis for antitrust investigations. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Tiempo de exposición: 1 hora