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PRICE EFFECTS OF SHOPPING HOURS REGULATION: EVIDENCE FROM GERMANY
Author(s) -
Reddy Karthik
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2011.02128.x
Subject(s) - order (exchange) , liberalization , german , legislation , argument (complex analysis) , economics , public economics , market economy , finance , law , political science , medicine , archaeology , history
This article investigates the price effects of shopping hours legislation in order to evaluate empirically the theoretical argument that such regulations protect consumers from price increases. The paper first provides a review of the literature; it then analyses the data prior to and following the liberalisation of German shopping hours regulations in 2006 and 2007 in order to estimate the effects of these changes. The article finds that liberalisation resulted in a fall in prices. This conclusion adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that shopping hours regulations entail significant economic costs.