Abstract Agricultural cooperatives are often promoted as a way to give farmers countervailing market power and greater income stability. This paper investigates to what extent cooperatives in food supply chains achieve these objectives. We estimate firm-level markups and markup volatility in the Italian fruits and vegetable (F&V) and dairy sectors at both the farming and processing stages for the period 2007–2014. We find mixed results: compared to non-cooperatives, F&V processor cooperatives have higher markups, while F&V farmer cooperatives and dairy processor cooperatives have lower markups. We do not find strong evidence of their role on markup volatility.

中文翻译：

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市场力量、加价波动和合作社在食品价值链中的作用：来自意大利的证据

摘要 农业合作社经常被宣传为赋予农民抵消市场力量和更大收入稳定性的一种方式。本文调查了食品供应链中的合作社在多大程度上实现了这些目标。我们估计了 2007-2014 年期间意大利水果和蔬菜 (F&V) 和乳制品行业在农业和加工阶段的企业级加价和加价波动。我们发现结果好坏参半：与非合作社相比，F&V 加工合作社的加价较高，而 F&V 农民合作社和乳制品加工合作社的加价较低。我们没有找到强有力的证据证明它们在加价波动中的作用。