經濟學人A remedy for high prices

A remedy for high prices

A study measures the cost of lack of competition

一項研究衡量了缺乏競爭力的代價

How Italy’s notoriously uncompetitive pharmacies rip off new parents

意大利臭名昭著的無競爭力的藥店敲詐了新手父母

THAT COMPETITION?keeps prices down is well known. But it is hard to measure by just how much, because prices vary for all sorts of reasons, from differences in labour costs and rents to taxes. Rising to the challenge is a new paper in?The Economic Journal?by Giacomo Calzolari, Andrea Ichino,

Francesco Manaresi and Viki Nellas, economists at the European University Institute, Bologna University and the Italian central bank. They looked at pharmacies and specifically at customers who may be particularly easy to rip off: new parents.

眾所周知，競爭可以壓低價格。但是很難衡量可以將價格壓低多少，因為價格因很多原因而波動，比如勞動力成本的不同、房租和稅收。“迎接新挑戰”是經濟學人的一篇新文章，由歐洲大學研究院，Bologna大學和意大利中央銀行的Giacomo Calzolari, Andrea Ichino, Francesco Manaresi and Viki Nellas撰寫。他們關注藥品，尤其是比較容易愿意付費的人群：新手父母。

Using data for 2007 to 2010 covering about a fifth of pharmacies in Italy, the researchers measured the way in which prices of hygiene products for babies changed as the number of babies varied. They took advantage of a peculiar law from the 1960s, according to which municipalities with at most 7,500 people are allowed just one pharmacy (supposedly to keep the quality of services high). They compared prices in places with populations just below this threshold, and just above.

根據2007年到2010年意大利1/5藥店的數據，研究者衡量了嬰兒用品價格和嬰兒數量的關系。他們使用了自20世紀60年代的一個特殊規律：最多7500人的城市只能有一個藥店（意在保證高服務質量）。他們比較了人口低于和高于這個界限所在地的價格。

The products studied included some 3,000 varieties of shampoos, bath foams, baby wipes, creams and so on. Many are also used by adults on themselves. Some people, for example, prefer sun-cream labelled “for children” because of its high level of protection. When raising prices for these products, even a

pharmacist with a monopoly must consider the risk that adult users will switch to products that are not aimed at children. But a rise in the number of babies, and hence in the fraction of buyers who are parents, could tip the scales towards price increases. By contrast, the pharmacist should already be charging as much as parents are willing to pay for products without adult users, such as nappies.

被研究的產品包括3000種不同的洗發水，沐浴液，嬰兒濕巾紙，潤膚乳等。許多產品成年人自己也使用。有些人，比如，喜歡印有孩子專用的防曬霜，因為這樣有更好的保護。當這些產品提價以后，即使有壟斷資格的藥店也必須考慮成人可能轉向使用非兒童用品。但嬰兒數量的增加可能將天平更向加價傾斜。相反，藥店應該根據父母愿意為非成人用品的產品支付的價格而定價，比如尿布。

The scholars found that pharmacists raised prices when there were more new parents—but only in municipalities with a single pharmacy, and not for nappies. In monopoly areas a doubling of the number of babies from one month to the next (not unusual in a small population) coincided with a 5% increase in the price of the basket of baby-hygiene products.

The study is timely. Italy’s government has started to loosen some of the many restrictions that stifle competition in the pharmacy sector (though not yet the one that the researchers relied on). But such regulations are plentiful in many other lines of business, and not just in Italy. The consumers who pay the price are often those who find it hardest to travel to shop around—for example, people with crying babies on their hands.

學者發現藥店在新手父母數量增加的時候提價，但只在只有一個藥店的城市這么做，而且不針對尿布。在壟斷地區，嬰兒數量逐月翻倍（在小數量人群中并非不普遍）與嬰兒用品5%提價正好同時發生。這項研究很及時。意大利政府已經開始放松許多使競爭陷入僵局的限制（盡管不是研究者所依賴的那些行業）。但這樣的法規在許多其他業務線上已有很多，不只是意大利。付費的消費者常常是那些認為去周邊購物很困難的人-比如手里抱著苦惱嬰孩的父母們。