Schulz, Lee L.; Crespi, John M.

Agribusiness: An International Journal Vol. 28 no. 2 (April 2012): 148-156.

The authors examine industry concentration for the U.S. food manufacturing sector. This study is the first to examine whether particular subsectors within the food manufacturing industry, which operate in the presence of industry-funded check-off programs such as marketing orders, are more or less concentrated than industries without such research and marketing programs. The authors find evidence to the hypothesis that industries with demand-enhancing check-off programs have lower concentration relative to industries without these programs.

JEL Classification: D29, D49, L11, L5

Keywords: check-off programs, industry structure, marketing orders, U.S. food manufacturing industry