Health policy researchers often cite a paper on “Government-Assisted Oligopoly Coordination” in this industry to argue that price transparency does not necessarily reduce prices. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this industry which Chad Syverson has promoted in the study of industrial organization, or IO, since its extremely high transport costs render it effectively non-tradeable.
ANSWER: ready-mix concrete [or ready-mixed concrete; reject “cement”]
[10m] IO economists also love to study the ready-to-eat cereal industry, after Richard Schmalensee suggested that the major firms engage in the “localized rivalry” predicted by this economist’s model of spatial competition, which places consumers along a straight line.
ANSWER: Harold Hotelling [accept Hotelling’s location model]
[10e] This researcher called for greater cooperation between IO and financial economics in a fictional study of the ketchup industry. This former Harvard president served as the first director of the National Economic Council under Obama.
ANSWER: Lawrence H. Summers [or Larry Summers]
<S, Social Science>