IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmac/v7y2015i2p157-80.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Markups in the Open Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Beatriz de Blas
  • Katheryn N. Russ

Abstract

This paper presents a new model of Bertrand competition between heterogeneous firms in the open economy where the macroeconomic distribution of markups responds to the degree of trade openness and the underlying level of technology in each trading partner. The model's simple closed-form distributions for markups and pricing yield predictions that coincide with a number of stylized facts from the empirical literature on markups, pass-through, and trade openness which previously could be illustrated only through numerical simulations. (JEL D43, F12, F41, L13)

Suggested Citation

  • Beatriz de Blas & Katheryn N. Russ, 2015. "Understanding Markups in the Open Economy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 157-180, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:7:y:2015:i:2:p:157-80
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mac.20120155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/mac.20120155
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/mac/app/0702/2012-0155_app.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/mac/data/0702/2012-0155_data.zip
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/mac/ds/0702/2012-0155_ds.zip
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael B. Devereux & Khang Min Lee, 2001. "Dynamic Gains from International Trade with Imperfect Competition and Market Power," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 239-255, June.
    2. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2003. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1268-1290, September.
    3. Miles S. Kimball & John G. Fernald & Susanto Basu, 2006. "Are Technology Improvements Contractionary?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1418-1448, December.
    4. Jan De Loecker & Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Amit K. Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik, 2016. "Prices, Markups, and Trade Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 445-510, March.
    5. Ariel Burstein & Martin Eichenbaum & Sergio Rebelo, 2005. "Large Devaluations and the Real Exchange Rate," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(4), pages 742-784, August.
    6. Stefania Garetto, 2014. "Firms’ Heterogeneity and Incomplete Pass-Through," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2014-006, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    7. Jeffrey R. Campbell & Hugo A. Hopenhayn, 2005. "Market Size Matters," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 1-25, March.
    8. Andrew Atkeson & Ariel Burstein, 2008. "Pricing-to-Market, Trade Costs, and International Relative Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1998-2031, December.
    9. Baxter, Marianne & Landry, Anthony, 2017. "IKEA: Product, pricing, and pass-through," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 507-520.
    10. Novy, Dennis, 2013. "International trade without CES: Estimating translog gravity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 271-282.
    11. Stijn Claessens & Luc Laeven, 2004. "What drives bank competition? Some international evidence," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 563-592.
    12. Andrew Atkeson & Ariel Burstein, 2007. "Pricing-to-Market in a Ricardian Model of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 362-367, May.
    13. Vinh T. H. Cao & Lisandra Flach, 2015. "The Effect of GATT/WTO on Export and Import Price Volatility," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(12), pages 2049-2079, December.
    14. Levinsohn, James, 1993. "Testing the imports-as-market-discipline hypothesis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 1-22, August.
    15. Chris Edmond & Virgiliu Midrigan & Daniel Yi Xu, 2011. "Competition , Markups, and the Gains from," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1183, The University of Melbourne, revised 2014.
    16. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Dedola, Luca & Leduc, Sylvain, 2008. "High exchange-rate volatility and low pass-through," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 1113-1128, September.
    17. Nicolas Berman & Philippe Martin & Thierry Mayer, 2012. "How do Different Exporters React to Exchange Rate Changes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 127(1), pages 437-492.
    18. Guillermo A. Calvo & Carmen M. Reinhart, 2002. "Fear of Floating," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(2), pages 379-408.
    19. Bottasso, Anna & Sembenelli, Alessandro, 2001. "Market power, productivity and the EU Single Market Program: Evidence from a panel of Italian firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 167-186, January.
    20. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    21. Gita Gopinath & Oleg Itskhoki & Roberto Rigobon, 2010. "Currency Choice and Exchange Rate Pass-Through," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 304-336, March.
    22. Raphael Schoenle, 2017. "International Menu Costs and Price Dynamics," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 578-606, August.
    23. Chris Edmond & Virgiliu Midrigan & Daniel Yi Xu, 2015. "Competition, Markups, and the Gains from International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3183-3221, October.
    24. Gita Gopinath & Oleg Itskhoki, 2011. "In Search of Real Rigidities," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2010, volume 25, pages 261-309, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Devereux, Michael B & Lee, Khang Min, 2001. "Dynamic Gains from International Trade with Imperfect Competition and Market Power," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 239-255, June.
    26. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    27. George Alessandria, 2009. "Consumer Search, Price Dispersion, And International Relative Price Fluctuations," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(3), pages 803-829, August.
    28. Marc J. Melitz & Giancarlo I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Market Size, Trade, and Productivity," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 4, pages 87-108, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    29. Paul R. Bergin & Robert C. Feenstra, 2009. "Pass-Through of Exchange Rates and Competition between Floaters and Fixers," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(s1), pages 35-70, February.
    30. Gita Gopinath & Oleg Itskhoki, 2010. "Frequency of Price Adjustment and Pass-Through," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(2), pages 675-727.
    31. Marc J. Melitz & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, 2008. "Market Size, Trade, and Productivity (DOI:10.111/j.1467-937x.2007.00463.x)," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(3), pages 985-985.
    32. Lukasz A. Drozd & Jaromir B. Nosal, 2012. "Understanding International Prices: Customers as Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 364-395, February.
    33. Gust, Christopher & Leduc, Sylvain & Vigfusson, Robert, 2010. "Trade integration, competition, and the decline in exchange-rate pass-through," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 309-324, April.
    34. de Blas, Beatriz & Russ, Katheryn Niles, 2013. "All banks great, small, and global: Loan pricing and foreign competition," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 4-24.
    35. Michele Ca’ Zorzi & Elke Hahn & Marcelo Sánchez, 2007. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Emerging Markets," The IUP Journal of Monetary Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(4), pages 84-102, November.
    36. Doireann Fitzgerald & Stefanie Haller, 2014. "Pricing-to-Market: Evidence From Plant-Level Prices," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 761-786.
    37. repec:pri:cepsud:231deloecker is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Jan De Loecker & Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Amit K. Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik, 2016. "Prices, Markups, and Trade Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 445-510, March.
    39. Costas Arkolakis & Arnaud Costinot & Dave Donaldson & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 2019. "The Elusive Pro-Competitive Effects of Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(1), pages 46-80.
    40. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September.
    41. Kucheryavyy, Konstantin, 2012. "Continuity of a model with a nested CES utility function and Bertrand competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 473-476.
    42. Bussière, M. & Delle Chiaie, S. & Peltonen, T. A., 2013. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through in the Global Economy," Working papers 424, Banque de France.
    43. Novy, Dennis, 2010. "International Trade and Monopolistic Competition without CES: Estimating Translog Gravity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 929, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    44. Roberts, Mark J. & Supina, Dylan, 1996. "Output price, markups, and producer size," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 909-921, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Auer, Raphael A. & Schoenle, Raphael S., 2016. "Market structure and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 60-77.
    2. Beatriz de Blas & Katheryn N. Russ, 2010. "Teams of rivals: endogenous markups in a Ricardian world," Globalization Institute Working Papers 67, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    3. Beatriz de Blas & Katheryn Russ, 2010. "Understanding Markups in the Open Economy under Bertrand Competition," NBER Working Papers 16587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Burstein, Ariel & Gopinath, Gita, 2014. "International Prices and Exchange Rates," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 391-451, Elsevier.
    5. Ha, Jongrim & Marc Stocker, M. & Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2020. "Inflation and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    6. A. Auer, Raphael & Chaney, Thomas & Sauré, Philip, 2018. "Quality pricing-to-market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 87-102.
    7. Mary Amiti & Oleg Itskhoki & Jozef Konings, 2016. "International Shocks and Domestic Prices: How Large Are Strategic Complementarities?," NBER Working Papers 22119, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lu, Yi & Wu, Guiying Laura, 2020. "Competition, markups, and gains from trade: A quantitative analysis of China between 1995 and 2004," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Holmes, Thomas J. & Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lee, Sanghoon, 2014. "Allocative efficiency, mark-ups, and the welfare gains from trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 195-206.
    10. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2018. "Global Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 565-619, June.
    11. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.
    12. Pennings, Steven, 2017. "Pass-through of competitors' exchange rates to US import and producer prices," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 41-56.
    13. Raphael Schoenle & Raphael Auer, 2012. "Market Structure and Pass-Through," 2012 Meeting Papers 61, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Benjamin R. Mandel, 2013. "Chinese exports and U.S. import prices," Staff Reports 591, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    15. Jung, Jae Wook & Simonovska, Ina & Weinberger, Ariel, 2019. "Exporter heterogeneity and price discrimination: A quantitative view," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 103-124.
    16. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2016. "Quality, trade, and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 61-80.
    17. Umut Kilinç, 2019. "Export Destination Characteristics and Markups: The Role of Country Size," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(341), pages 116-138, January.
    18. Fernandes, Ana P. & Winters, L. Alan, 2021. "Exporters and shocks: The impact of the Brexit vote shock on bilateral exports to the UK," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    19. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2022. "Markups, quality, and trade costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    20. Nocco, Antonella & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Salto, Matteo, 2019. "Geography, competition, and optimal multilateral trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 145-161.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Understanding Markups in the Open Economy (AEJ:MA 2015) in ReplicationWiki

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:7:y:2015:i:2:p:157-80. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.