Economic Reports

Bureau of Economics Reports: Major, published reports, usually containing original research and entailing a substantial commitment of resources, concerning an issue of current policy interest or of long term impact on Federal Trade Commission antitrust or consumer protection missions. Includes Bureau of Economics staff reports as well as FTC and staff reports produced jointly with other Commission Bureaus and Offices.

The more recent Economic Reports are offered in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

If you have trouble accessing one of these reports, please email ReportRequests@ftc.gov.

Credit-Based Insurance Scores: Impacts on Consumers of Automobile Insurance: A Report to Congress By the Federal Trade Commission

July 2007

This study examines the effect of credit-based insurance scores on the price and availability of automobile insurance and the impact of such scores on racial and ethnic minority groups and on low

Text of the Commission Report (771.78 KB)

Statement of Chairman Majoras, Commissioner Kovacic, and Commissioner Rosch (52.07 KB)

Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Harbour (49.87 KB)

Concurring Statement of Commissioner Leibowitz (7.58 KB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Releases Report on Effects of Credit-Based Insurance Scores

Improving Consumer Mortgage Disclosures: An Empirical Assessment of Current and Prototype Disclosure Forms: A Bureau of Economics Staff Report

June 2007

Authors

James M. Lacko, Janis K. Pappalardo

This study presents the results of 36 in-depth interviews with recent mortgage customers, and quantitative consumer testing with over 800 mortgage customers, that examined how consumers search for

Executive Summary of the Report (116.74 KB)

Text of the Report (3.09 MB)

Sample Prototype Disclosure Form (259.39 KB)

Sample Current Disclosure Forms (1.31 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Releases Staff Report on Improving Consumer Mortgage Disclosures

Children's Exposure to Television Advertising in 1977 and 2004: Information for the Obesity Debate: A Bureau of Economics Staff Report

June 2007

Authors

Debra J. Holt, Pauline M. Ippolito, Debra M. Desrochers, Christopher R. Kelley

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the amount and type of television advertising seen by children in 2004 and compares these results to similar studies conducted for the Federal Trade

Black and white version of the report (740.54 KB)

Color version of the report (665.65 KB)

An Analysis of Exposure to Non-Network Television Advertising, Prepared for the Children's Advertising (3.52 MB)

Network and Non-Network Sources of Programming and Advertising for Children, Prepared for the Children's Advertising Rulemaking Proceeding (8.73 MB)

Related Press Releases

Children Not Seeing More Food Ads on Television

FTC Staff Technical Report: Robustness of the Results in GAO's 2004 Report Concerning Price Effects of Mergers and Concentration Changes in the Petroleum Industry

December 2004

Text of the FTC Staff Technical Report (6.21 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC to Host Conference on Oil Industry Merger Effects

Consumer Fraud in the United States : An FTC Survey

August 2004

Authors

Keith B. Anderson

This survey will help the FTC better serve fraud victims through law enforcement and education. The survey was designed, in part, to assist that agency in determining whether information in the FTC’s

Consumer Fraud in the US: An FTC Survey - August 2004 (1.54 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Releases Consumer Fraud Survey

The Petroleum Industry: Mergers, Structural Change, And Antitrust Enforcement: A Report of the Staff of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics

August 2004

This report updates two earlier FTC studies on mergers and structural change in the U.S. petroleum industry. Reviewing industry developments since the 1980s, this report finds, among other things

Text of the Bureau of Economics Report (10.85 MB)

Statement of the Commission Appendix: Commission Testimony Concerning Market Forces, Anticompetitive Activity, and Gasoline Prices (July 15, 2004) (15.88 KB)

Statement of Commissioner Thompson (19.32 KB)

Statement of Commissioner Harbour (13.17 KB)

Earlier Reports Mergers In the U.S. Petroleum Industry 1971-1984: An Updated Comparative Analysis (May 1989) Mergers In the Petroleum Industry (September 1982) (2.66 MB)

Appendix: Commission Testimony Concerning Market Forces, Anticompetitive Activity, and Gasoline Prices (July 15, 2004) (681.25 KB)

Mergers In the U.S. Petroleum Industry 1971-1984: An Updated Comparative Analysis (May 1989) (2.66 MB)

Mergers In the Petroleum Industry (September 1982) (18.66 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Issues Staff Report on The Petroleum Industry: Mergers, Structural Change, and Antitrust Enforcement

The Effect of Mortgage Broker Compensation Disclosures on Consumers and Competition: A Controlled Experiment

February 2004

Authors

James M. Lacko, Janis K. Pappalardo

This report presents the results of a study that uses a controlled experiment with over 500 recent mortgage customers to examine the mortgage broker compensation disclosure proposed by the Department

Full Report (2.94 MB)

Executive Summary (261.53 KB)

Text of the Report (1.11 MB)

Appendices (1.15 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Releases Staff Report on Mortgage Broker Compensation Disclosures

Advertising Nutrition & Health, Evidence from Food Advertising 1977-1997

September 2002

Authors

Pauline M. Ippolito and Janis K. Pappalardo

This report reviews data collected by Commission staff on the types of claims made in 11,647 advertisements taken from a sample of eight leading magazines between 1977 and 1997. The primary focus of

Executive Summary (598.67 KB)

Text of Report (3.17 MB)

Competition and Consumer Protection Perspectives on Electric Power Regulatory Reform

July 2000

Electric power is the latest -- and largest -- industry in which advances in technology have made extensive regulation obsolete. In particular, it is now possible for customers (e.g., residential

Text of the Report (392.03 KB)

Survey of Rent-to-Own Customers

April 2000

Authors

James M. Lacko, Signe-Mary McKernan, Manoj Hastak

This report presents the results of a nationwide survey of rent-to-own customers. The survey found that most rent-to-own merchandise is ultimately purchased by the customer, most customers are

Text of the Report (11.29 MB)

Related Press Releases

FTC Releases Staff Report on a Survey of Rent-To-Own Customers

Transformation and Continuity: The U.S. Carbonated Soft Drink Bottling Industry and Antitrust Policy Since 1980

November 1999

Authors

Harold Saltzman, Roy Levy, and John C. Hilke

This report analyzes the U.S. carbonated soft drink ("CSD") industry, with its primary focus on the 1980s and early 1990s, a period of rapid structural change that transformed the industry. In

Copy of Report (499.75 KB)

The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Discussion of Competitive and Antitrust Issues in an Environment of Change

March 1999

Authors

Roy Levy

The report reviews significant informational, institutional, and structural changes that have influenced price and non-price competition strategies of brand-name pharmaceutical companies, particularly

Report: The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Discussion of Competitive and Antitrust Issues in an Environment of Change (9.38 MB)

A Generic Copy Test of Food Health Claims in Advertising

November 1998

Authors

Dennis Murphy, Theodore H. Hoppock, Michelle K. Rusk

The attached memorandum presents the results of a large scale advertising copy test project that was conducted jointly by the Division of Advertising Practices and the Bureau of Economics of the

Copy of Report (198.56 KB)

Appendix A (2 MB)

Appendix B (219.83 KB)

Competition and the Financial Impact of the Proposed Tobacco Industry Settlement

September 1997

The report analyzes the potential impact of the proposed tobacco industry settlement on cigarette prices, industry profits, and government revenues. The main conclusions of the report are that (1) the

Text of the Report (206.87 KB)

Information and Advertising Policy: A Study of Fat and Cholesterol Consumption in the United States, 1977-1990

September 1996

Authors

Pauline M. Ippolito, Alan D. Mathios

The study examines changes in the consumption of fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol from 1977 to 1990, a period when federal policy governing diet-disease claims changed. The study finds that dietary

Copy of Report (4.93 MB)

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