经济学人A remedy for high prices

A remedy for high prices

A study measures the cost of lack of competition

一项研究衡量了缺乏竞争力的代价

How Italy’s notoriously uncompetitive pharmacies rip off new parents

意大利臭名昭著的无竞争力的药店敲诈了新手父母

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.

众所周知，竞争可以压低价格。但是很难衡量可以将价格压低多少，因为价格因很多原因而波动，比如劳动力成本的不同、房租和税收。“迎接新挑战”是经济学人的一篇新文章，由欧洲大学研究院，Bologna大学和意大利中央银行的Giacomo Calzolari, Andrea Ichino, Francesco Manaresi and Viki Nellas撰写。他们关注药品，尤其是比较容易愿意付费的人群：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.

根据2007年到2010年意大利1/5药店的数据，研究者衡量了婴儿用品价格和婴儿数量的关系。他们使用了自20世纪60年代的一个特殊规律：最多7500人的城市只能有一个药店（意在保证高服务质量）。他们比较了人口低于和高于这个界限所在地的价格。

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.

被研究的产品包括3000种不同的洗发水，沐浴液，婴儿湿巾纸，润肤乳等。许多产品成年人自己也使用。有些人，比如，喜欢印有孩子专用的防晒霜，因为这样有更好的保护。当这些产品提价以后，即使有垄断资格的药店也必须考虑成人可能转向使用非儿童用品。但婴儿数量的增加可能将天平更向加价倾斜。相反，药店应该根据父母愿意为非成人用品的产品支付的价格而定价，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.

学者发现药店在新手父母数量增加的时候提价，但只在只有一个药店的城市这么做，而且不针对尿布。在垄断地区，婴儿数量逐月翻倍（在小数量人群中并非不普遍）与婴儿用品5%提价正好同时发生。这项研究很及时。意大利政府已经开始放松许多使竞争陷入僵局的限制（尽管不是研究者所依赖的那些行业）。但这样的法规在许多其他业务线上已有很多，不只是意大利。付费的消费者常常是那些认为去周边购物很困难的人-比如手里抱着苦恼婴孩的父母们。