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Market Transparency and Market Structure: The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999
Author(s) -
Azzam Azzeddine
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8276.00127
Subject(s) - livestock , transparency (behavior) , business , premise , procurement , competition (biology) , industrial organization , marketing , law , political science , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , biology
The premise of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 is that enhanced transparency promotes competition. This article provides a theoretical study of the consequences of such transparency for the structure, conduct, and performance of the livestock industry. I conclude that the usefulness of the Act to the livestock industry may not be in the value of reported information to feeders, as the supporters of the Act claim. Rather, by forcing packers to pool information at negligible marginal cost, the Act may foster more competitive conduct in the procurement of livestock.