Premium
Hamburger Prices and Spatial Econometrics
Author(s) -
Kalnins Arturs
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of economics and management strategy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1530-9134
pISSN - 1058-6407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1430-9134.2003.00591.x
Subject(s) - uncorrelated , econometrics , spatial econometrics , economics , variation (astronomy) , chain (unit) , spatial dependence , mathematics , statistics , physics , astrophysics , astronomy
This paper applies spatial econometrics to hamburger price data to assess the degree of substitutability of products and locations of spatially dispersed franchised chains. First, while intrachain price variation exists, I find that hamburger prices at neighboring outlets of different chains are spatially uncorrelated. I conclude that their products are not close substitutes, which provides an explanation for why price promotions have not raised market share. I do find spatial price correlation, however, among proximate outlets of separate franchisees within the same chain. This finding implies that customers view proximate locations of a chain as substitutes.