The Economics of Beer

Johan Swinnen is Professor of Economics and Director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance at the University of Leuven (KUL) and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels, where he directs the programme on EU agricultural and food policy. He was previously Lead Economist at the World Bank and Economic Advisor at the European Commission. He consults for the OECD, FAO, EBRD, UNDP, IFAD, and several governments and was coordinator of international research networks on food policy, institutional reforms, and economic development. He is President-Elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and a Fellow of the European Association of Agricultural Economists. He holds a PhD from Cornell University. He has published widely on political economy, institutional reform, trade, and agricultural and food policy.

• Part I: History 1: Eline Poelmans and Johan F. M. Swinnen: A Brief Economic History of Beer 2: Richard W. Unger: Beer Production, Profits, and Public Authorities in the Renaissance 3: Frank van Tongeren: Standards and International Trade Integration: A Historical Review of the German 'Reinheitsgebot' 4: John V. C. Nye: Brewing Nation: War, Taxes, and the Growth of the British Beer Industry in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 5: Damiaan Persyn, Johan F. M. Swinnen, and Stijn Vanormelingen: Belgian Beers: Where History Meets Globalization Part II: Consumption 6: Donald G. Freeman: Cold Comfort in Hard Times: Do People Drink More Beer during Recessions? 7: Liesbeth Colen and Johan F. M. Swinnen: Beer-Drinking Nations: The Determinants of Global Beer Consumption 8: Carol Horton Tremblay and Victor J. Tremblay: Recent Economic Developments in the Import and Craft Segments of the US Brewing Industry 9: Jill J. McCluskey and Sanatan Shreay: Culture and Beer Preferences Part III: Industrial Organization 10: Margaret E. Slade: Competition Policy towards Brewing: Rational Response to Market Power or Unwarranted Interference in Efficient Markets? 11: Kenneth G. Elzinga and Anthony W. Swisher: Developments in US Merger Policy: The Beer Industry as Lens 12: Lisa M. George: The Growth of Television and the Decline of Local Beer 13: William James Adams: Determinants of the Concentration in Beer Markets in Germany and the United States: 1950-2005 14: Johan F. M. Swinnen and Kristine Van Herck: How the East was Won: The Foreign Takeover of the Eastern European Brewing Industry Part IV: The New Beer Markets 15: Junfei Bai, Jikun Huang, Scott Rozelle, and Matt Boswell: Beer Battles in China: The Struggle over the World's Largest Beer Market 16: Koen Deconinck and Johan F. M. Swinnen: From Vodka to Baltika: A Perfect Storm in the Russian Beer Market 17: Abhimanyu Arora, Anjor Bhaskar, Bart Minten, and Anneleen Vandeplas: Opening the Beer Gates: How Liberalization Caused Growth in India's Beer Market Part V: Conclusion 18: Johan F. M. Swinnen and Thijs Vandemoortele: Beeronomics: The Economics of Beer and Brewing

...this volume is an important step forward for the popularization and professionalization of beer and brewing research.