Concentration and market power in the Norwegian sawlog market 1974-1991

The aim of the paper is to study concentration and market power in the Norwegian sawlog market. The analysis is based on observations of the full record of individual Norwegian sawmills over the period 1974-1991. The paper first presents some stylized facts and common indices of concentration. The findings suggest that there have been fairly any changes in concentration during the period studied. We then test for oligopsony power by estimating a translog cost function adding a constant elasticity term. Our results suggest that, for the example period considered, the Norwegian sawmill industry may be characterized as non-competitive in the sawlog market.