Description: Labor-Public-Applied Economics Workshop

Location: 368A Heady Hall

Contact: John Winters

Title: Appalachian Coals and the Price of Coal

Abstract: In a famous antitrust case, Appalachian Coals v. United States (1933), the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a joint sales agency of coal mining companies to begin operation. The defendants claimed and the Court agreed that they had no power or intent to raise coal prices. This paper measures the agency’s subsequent effect on its coal prices using an event-study design, with prices in other coal fields serving as controls. It finds that the agency had little effect shortly after the Court’s decision in March, but by summer 1933, it was able to raise its prices over 20 percent.