Barriers to retail competition and prices
Subtitle: evidence from Spain
By: prepared by Alexander W. Hoffmaister.
Contributors: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Series: IMF working paper -- WP/06/231
Publisher: International Monetary Fund, European Dept.
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Washington D.C.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 39
Subjects: Prices -- Spain -- Regional disparities.; Barriers to entry (Industrial organization) -- Spain.; Competition -- Spain.; Retail trade -- Spain.
Description: Why do prices in Spain's regions fail to converge? The prime suspects for this puzzling result are differences in regional barriers to entry in retail distribution. This paper develops a Cournot-Nash model of imperfect competition to illustrate the effect of barriers on prices. A unique data set-derived from an extensive analysis of competition policies in Spain- provides evidence that barriers to entry increase regional prices. The evidence also suggests that, consistent with the model's predictions, barriers to entry raise prices up to a point, and thus indicate that barriers have a threshold effect on prices.
Notes: Caption title.

"October 2006."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-39).

Also available on the World Wide Web.