In praise of the Old I.O.

Abstract “Old I.O.” is the body of empirical regularities obtained by cross-section statistical methods following their introduction by Bain [Bain, 1951. Relation of profit rate to industry concentration: American manufacturing, 1936–1940. Quarterly Journal of Economics 65, 293–324.]. Its researchers did not seek to fit particular theoretical (oligopoly) models to market data, apart from theoretical conditions for sustainable collusion, but they did establish a large number of empirical regularities – cross-section associations between dimensions of performance (allocative efficiency, productive efficiency, turnover of suppliers) in markets and their structural and behavioral features. These associations continue to serve a wide range of uses for economic understanding and policy formation.

[1]  Mark J. Roberts,et al.  Patterns of Firm Entry and Exit in U.S. Manufacturing Industries , 1988 .

[2]  S. Nickell.  Competition and Corporate Performance , 1996, Journal of Political Economy.

[3]  Stephen Nickell,et al.  Competition and Crporate Performance , 1993 .

[4]  Joe S. Bain,et al.  Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940 , 1951 .

[5]  L. Weiss.  Concentration and price , 1989 .

[6]  Market Concentration, Contestability, and Sunk Costs , 1990 .

[7]  C. H. Berry.  Corporate Growth and Diversification , 1971, Journal law and economy.

[8]  M. Porter.  Interbrand Choice, Strategy, and Bilateral Market Power , 1977 .

[9]  F. Scherer,et al.  The economics of multi-plant operation : an international comparisons study , 1976 .

[10]  M. Kirkpatrick,et al.  Industrial Concentration: The New Learning , 1974 .

[11]  S. Klepper.  Industry Life Cycles , 1997 .

[12]  John Sutton,et al.  Sunk Costs and Market Structure: Price Competition, Advertising, and the Evolution of Concentration , 1992 .

[13]  R. Sherman,et al.  Essays on industrial organization, in honor of Joe S. Bain , 1978 .

[14]  R. Caves,et al.  Efficiency in U.S. manufacturing industries , 1990 .

[15]  R. Glenn Hubbard,et al.  Business Cycles and the Relationship between Concentration and Price-Cost Margins , 1986 .

[16]  David B. Audretsch,et al.  Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis , 1988 .

[17]  John R. Baldwin,et al.  The Dynamics of Industrial Competition , 1995 .

[18]  L. Esposito,et al.  Excess Capacity and Market Structure , 1974 .

[19]  J. Sutton.  Gibrat's Legacy , 1996 .

[20]  Steven Klepper,et al.  The Evolution of New Industries and the Determinants of Market Structure , 1990 .

[21]  B. Carlsson.  THE MEASUREMENT OF EFFICIENCY IN PRODUCTION: AN APPLICATION TO SWEDISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES 1968 , 1972 .

[22]  Richard E. Caves,et al.  Fat: The Displacement of Nonproduction Workers from U.S. Manufacturing Industries , 1993 .

[23]  Richard Schmalensee,et al.  Inter-industry studies of structure and performance , 1987 .

[24]  Marvin B. Lieberman,et al.  Postentry Investment and Market Structure in the Chemical Processing Industries , 1987 .

[25]  Z. Ács,et al.  Innovation, Market Structure, and Firm Size , 1987 .

[26]  H. H. Newman.  Strategic Groups and the Structure-Performance Relationship , 1978 .

[27]  J. Bain.  Barriers to new competition , 1957 .

[28]  Ralph M. Bradburd,et al.  Organizational Costs, "Sticky Equilibria," and Critical Levels of Concentration , 1982 .