How many cartels are there? The answer is important in assessing the efficiency of competition policy. We present a Hidden Markov Model that answers the question, taking into account that often we do not know whether a cartel exists in an industry or not. Our model identifies key policy...

We study cartel contracts using data on 18 contract clauses of 109 legal Finnish manufacturing cartels. One third of the clauses relate to raising profits; the others deal with instability through incentive compatibility, cartel organization, or external threats. Cartels use three main...

We use grocery data from Norway and COVID-19 border closings to gauge the effect of cross-border shopping on commodity tax revenue. Detailed store-category level data identify differential treatment effects that depend on distance to Swedish stores. Economically significant effects extend to up...

Applying detailed consecutive daily micro data at the gasoline station level from Sweden we estimate a structural model to uncover the degree of competition in the gasoline retail market. We find that retailers do exercise market power, but despite the high upstream concentration, the market...

This paper examines the effect of cross-border shopping on grocery demand in Norway using monthly storexcategory sales data from Norway's largest grocery chain 2011-2016. The sensitivity of demand to foreign price is hump-shaped and greatest 30-60 minutes' driving distance from the closest...

The digitisation of society has posed a challenge to news outlets. Seeking advertising revenues and facing competition for the attention of their readers, many news outlets entered the digital era with unrestricted access to their online content. More recently, news outlets have sought to...

Motivated by observations in the Norwegian airline industry in the late 90s, we develop a semicollusive model with collusion on gross prices and competition on contracts for large customers (corporate contracts). The theoretical predictions are tested on detailed data on gross prices, large...

We use rich data from Norway’s biggest grocery chain to show how households and grocery stores react to changing economic conditions. We exploit the regional nature of a recession following the drop in the oil price in 2014 and find that when the local unemployment rate increases, households...

We analyze 69 entries and relocations by the Norwegian discount variety chain Europris during the period 2016 to 2019. We measure how its location choices affect local grocery stores’ performance, using a diff-in-diff strategy and data from a large Norwegian grocery chain. We combine detailed...

We estimate a structural model to uncover the degree of competition in retail gasoline markets using daily station-level data on quantity and price from the Swedish market. The structural model enables us to consider key features on both the demand and supply side that are important when...