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Do Prices Determine Vertical Integration? Evidence from Trade Policy

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Author Info

  • Laura Alfaro

    () (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit)

  • Paola Conconi

    () (Universit´e Libre de Bruxelles (ECARES) and CEPR)

  • Harald Fadinger

    () (University of Vienna)

  • Andrew F. Newman

    () (Boston University and CEPR)

Abstract

What is the relationship between product prices and vertical integration? While the literature has focused on how integration affects prices, this paper shows that prices can affect integration. Many theories in organizational economics and industrial organization posit that integration, while costly, increases productivity. If true, it follows from firms' maximizing behavior that higher prices cause firms to choose more integration. The reason is that at low prices, increases in revenue resulting from enhanced productivity are too small to justify the cost, whereas at higher prices, the revenue benefit exceeds the cost. Trade policy provides a source of exogenous price variation to assess the validity of this prediction: higher tariffs should lead to higher prices and therefore to more integration. We construct firm-level indices of vertical integration for a large set of countries and industries and exploit cross-section and time-series variation in import tariffs to examine their impact on firm boundaries. Our empirical results provide strong support for the view that output prices are a key determinant of vertical integration.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Harvard Business School in its series Harvard Business School Working Papers with number 10-060.

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Length: 44 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2010
Date of revision: May 2013
Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:10-060

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Keywords: Theory of the firm; vertical integration; product prices.;

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  1. Eric Van den Steen, 2005. "Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 256-283, April.
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Cited by:
  1. Buehler, Stefan & Burghardt, Dirk, 2013. "Globalization and Vertical Structure: An Empirical Investigation," Economics Working Paper Series 1310, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
  2. Pedro Mendi & Rafael Moner-Colonques & José Sempere-Monerris, 2011. "Vertical integration, collusion, and tariffs," SERIEs, Spanish Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 359-378, September.
  3. Pol Antràs, 2011. "Grossman-Hart (1986) Goes Global: Incomplete Contracts, Property Rights, and the International Organization of Production," NBER Working Papers 17470, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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