Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T07:33:06.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The U.S. Beer Industry: Concentration, Fragmentation, and a Nexus with Wine*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2012

Kenneth G. Elzinga
Kenneth G. Elzinga
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, e-mail: elzinga@virginia.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The U.S. Beer industry has undergone two periods of major structural change in the post-World War II period. The first period, 1950–1980, was one of consolidation in which concentration increased dramatically. Since this period, combinations among leading brewers took place that would not have passed antitrust scrutiny earlier. The second period, from 1980 on, is one of fragmentation, marked by the entry of many craft brewers and increased product heterogeneity. The fragmentation has brought about consumption complementarities between wine and beer that never existed before. The wine and beer industry both face distributional inefficiencies sustained by state regulatory provisions that were a consequence of ending prohibition in the United States. Each of these topics is explored in this paper. (JEL Classification: L66, M37)

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Autumn 2011 , pp. 217 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

All About Beer (2010a). R. Protz Review of Evans' Good Bottled Beer Guide. 31 (2)91.Google Scholar
All About Beer (2010b). Fritz Bows Out. 31 (3)4.Google Scholar
All About Beer (2011a). Pull Up A Stool With Jack McAuliffe. 32 (4)22.Google Scholar
All About Beer (2011b). Beer Event Brainstorm. 32 (4)22.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. (May 10, 2010). In Vino VERITAS. The Weekly Standard.Google Scholar
Beer Marketer's Insights (April 19, 2010a) 41(8).Google Scholar
Beer Marketer's Insights (May 10, 2010b) 41(9).Google Scholar
Beer Marketer's Insights (February 7, 2011a) 42(3).Google Scholar
Beer Marketer's Insights (March 7, 2011b) 42(5).Google Scholar
Beer Marketer's Insights (August 1, 2011c) 42(14).Google Scholar
Beliveau, B.C. and Rouse, M.E. (2010). Prohibition and repeal: a short history of the wine industry's regulation in the United States. Journal of Wine Economics, 5, 53–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colen, L. and Swinnen, J.F.M. (2010). Beer drinking nations: the determinants of global Beer consumption. LICOS Discussion Paper No. 270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elzinga, K.G. (2009a). The beer industry. In Brock, J. (ed.), The Structure of American Industry (12th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Elzinga, K.G. (2009b). Review of The U.S. Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis. Journal of Wine Economics, 4, 248–250.Google Scholar
Elzinga, K.G. and Swisher, A.W. (2011). Developments in U.S. merger policy: the beer industry as lens. In: Swinnen, J.F.M. (ed.). The Economics of Beer. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 196–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, J. (2009). Good Bottled Beer Guide, 7th ed. St. Albans UK: CAMRA Books.Google Scholar
Felton, E. (June 4, 2010). No bottoms up: light Beer sales are sagging. Wall Street Journal. Horowitz, A. and Horowitz, I. (1967). The beer industry. Business Horizons, 10(3), 5–19.Google Scholar
Jackson, Michael (1977) The World Guide to Beer. London: Mitchell Beazley.Google Scholar
Mosher, R. (2009). Tasting Beer. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.Google Scholar
The New Brewer: Annual Industry Review Issue (May/June 2011).Google Scholar
Skilnik, B. (2007). Beer & Food. Lookout Mountain, TN: Jefferson Press.Google Scholar
Storchmann, K. (2011). Wine Economics: Emergence, Developments, Topics. AAWE Working Paper No. 85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Gordonsville, TN: Dugan, n.d.Google Scholar
Tremblay, V.J. and Horton, Tremblay|C. (2005). The US. Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tremblay, V.J., Horton, Tremblay C. and Iwasaki, N. (2005). The dynamics of industry concentration for U.S. micro and macrobrewers. Review of Industrial Organization, 26, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, C.H. and Tremblay, V.J. (2011). Recent economic developments in the import and craft segments of the U.S. brewing industry. In: Swinnen, J.F.M. (ed.), The Economics of Beer. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 141–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitman, D.G. (2003). Strange Brew: Alcohol and Government Monopoly. Oakland, CA: The Independent Institute.Google Scholar