Abstract:

This report is an attempt to identify, from observations made, the factors which affect the level of a market and the relative position of each manufacturer in the market. The observations used were made with the help of a Consumer Panel, a sample of 4,542 households representative of the whole French population which CECODIS has been managing for several years. Data from a Panel of Distributors and from certain product tests carried out by CECODIS were also used. The use of a Consumer Panel giving weekly or monthly results for a large number of markets over long periods, as we shall see, leads irresistibly to the notion that markets are governed by what may be termed laws of equilibrium.