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Imperfect competition and the dynamics of mark-ups

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Author Info
Erik Britton
Jens D J Larsen
Ian Small
Abstract

This paper investigates the behaviour of the mark-up of prices over marginal costs under two different assumptions about market structure. In the customer market model firms lower their mark-up when current output is low relative to future profits, foregoing current profits in order to capture future market share. In markets characterised by implicit collusion, firms lower their mark-ups when current output is high relative to future profits in order to lower the incentives to undercut the implicit cartel. Only the customer market model generates predictions consistent with UK evidence, but this in inconsistent with evidence from the United States. It may be necessary to use more than one model to explain all the facts.

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Paper provided by Bank of England in its series Bank of England working papers with number 110.

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  1. Rotemberg, Julio J & Woodford, Michael, 1996. "Imperfect Competition and the Effects of Energy Price Increases on Economic Activity," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(4), pages 550-77, November.
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  2. Bils, Mark, 1987. "The Cyclical Behavior of Marginal Cost and Price," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 838-55, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Julio J. Rotemberg & Michael Woodford, 1993. "Dynamic General Equilibrium Models with Imperfectly Competitive Product Markets," NBER Working Papers 4502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. King, Robert G. & Plosser, Charles I. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1988. "Production, growth and business cycles : II. New directions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 309-341. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. McCallum, Bennett T. & Nelson, Edward, 1998. "Nominal Income Targeting in an Open-Economy Optimizing Model," Seminar Papers 644, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Hansen, Gary D., 1985. "Indivisible labor and the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 309-327, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Abreu, Dilip, 1986. "Extremal equilibria of oligopolistic supergames," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 191-225, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Holland, Allison & Scott, Andrew, 1998. "The Determinants of UK Business Cycles," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(449), pages 1067-92, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Bean, Charles R & Symons, James, 1989. "Ten Years of Mrs. T," CEPR Discussion Papers 316, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    • Bean, C. & Symons, J., 1990. "Ten Years Of Mrs T.," Papers 370, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.
    • Charles Bean & James Symons, 1989. "Ten Years of Mrs. T," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1989, Volume 4, pages 13-72 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  10. Ireland, Peter N., 1998. "Customer Flows, Countercyclical Markups, and the Output Effects of Technology Shocks," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 649-664, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Roeger, Werner, 1995. "Can Imperfect Competition Explain the Difference between Primal and Dual Productivity Measures? Estimates for U.S. Manufacturing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 316-30, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Pierre Danthine, Jean & Donaldson, John B., 1993. "Methodological and empirical issues in real business cycle theory," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-35, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Ravn, M.O., 1996. "Permanent and Transitory Shocks, and the UK Business Cycle," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 9627, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
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  14. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Rotemberg, Julio J & Woodford, Michael, 1992. "Oligopolistic Pricing and the Effects of Aggregate Demand on Economic Activity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1153-1207, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Haskel, Jonathan & Martin, Christopher & Small, Ian, 1995. "Price, Marginal Cost and the Business Cycle," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(1), pages 25-41, February.
  17. King, Robert G. & Plosser, Charles I. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1988. "Production, growth and business cycles : I. The basic neoclassical model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 195-232. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Jens Larsen & Katharine Neiss & Fergal Shortall, . "Factor utilisation and productivity estimates for the United Kingdom," Bank of England working papers 162, Bank of England. [Downloadable!]
  2. Ravi Balakrishnan & J David L½pez-Salido, . "Understanding UK inflation: the role of openness," Bank of England working papers 164, Bank of England. [Downloadable!]
  3. Hashmat Khan & Richhild Moessner, . "Competitiveness, inflation, and monetary policy," Bank of England working papers 246, Bank of England. [Downloadable!]
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