Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

The convergence of price-cost margins

Contents:

Author Info

Abstract

This paper gives estimates of sectoral markup trends in thirteen OECD countries over the last three decades. It concludes with a slight, albeit heterogeneous, increase in price-cost margins (PCMs) overall, contrary to the generally expected effect of increased competition. More strikingly, it establishes a clear pattern of PCM convergence both across countries and sectors. This convergence means that high margins have shrunk and low margins grown. These movements seem to be linked to the decline in the labour share. They point to a need to search for factors counterbalancing the pro-competitive effect on markups.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: ftp://mse.univ-paris1.fr/pub/mse/cahiers2005/Bla05056.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1) in its series Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques with number bla05056.

as in new window
Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mse:wpsorb:bla05056

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 106 - 112 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75647 Paris cedex 13
Phone: 01 44 07 81 00
Fax: 01 44 07 81 09
Email:
Web page: http://mse.univ-paris1.fr/
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords: Markup; price-cost margin; pro-competitive effect; wage bargaining; labour share.;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Krishna, Pravin & Mitra, Devashish, 1998. "Trade liberalization, market discipline and productivity growth: new evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 447-462, August.
  2. James A. Brander & Paul Krugman, 1983. "A 'Reciprocal Dumping' Model of International Trade," NBER Working Papers 1194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2000. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," Boston University - Institute for Economic Development 105, Boston University, Institute for Economic Development.
  4. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects Of Regulation And Deregulation In Goods And Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907, August.
  5. Anindya Banerjee & Bill Russell, 2000. "The Relationship between the Markup and Inflation in the G7 Economies and Australia," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 119, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
  6. Boone, J., 2000. "Competition," Discussion Paper 2000-104, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  7. Martin D D Evans & Viktoria Hnatkovska, 2006. "International Capital Flows Returns and World Financial Integration," 2006 Meeting Papers 60, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  8. David E. Weinstein & Christian Broda, 2004. "Globalization And The Gains From Variety," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 327, Econometric Society.
  9. Collins, Norman R & Preston, Lee E, 1969. "Price-Cost Margins and Industry Structure," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 51(3), pages 271-86, August.
  10. Hoekman, Bernard & Hiau Looi Kee & Olarreaga, Marcelo, 2001. "Markups, entry regulation, and trade - Does country size matter?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2662, The World Bank.
  11. 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.
  12. Borjas, George J & Ramey, Valerie A, 1995. "Foreign Competition, Market Power, and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 1075-1110, November.
  13. Melitz, Marc J, 2002. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," CEPR Discussion Papers 3381, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  14. Nina Pavcnik, 2000. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," NBER Working Papers 7852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. Oliver J. Blanchard, 1997. "The Medium Run," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 89-158.
  16. Schmalensee, Richard., 1987. "Inter-industry studies of structure and performance," Working papers 1874-87., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
  17. Francis Kramarz, 2003. "Wages and International Trade," Working Papers 2003-27, Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique.
  18. Julio J. Rotemberg & Michael Woodford, 1996. "Imperfect Competition and the Effects of Energy Price Increases on Economic Activity," NBER Working Papers 5634, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  19. Rotemberg, Julio J. & Woodford, Michael, 1999. "The cyclical behavior of prices and costs," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 16, pages 1051-1135 Elsevier.
  20. repec:rus:hseeco:122439 is not listed on IDEAS
  21. Joaquim Oliveira Martins & Stefano Scarpetta & Dirk Pilat, 1996. "Mark-Up Ratios in Manufacturing Industries: Estimates for 14 OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 162, OECD Publishing.
  22. Bils, Mark, 1987. "The Cyclical Behavior of Marginal Cost and Price," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 838-55, December.
  23. Lawrence J. Christiano & Martin Eichenbaum & Charles L. Evans, 1996. "Sticky price and limited participation models of money: a comparison," Staff Report 227, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  24. Joaquim Oliveira Martins & Stefano Scarpetta, 2002. "Estimation of the Cyclical Behaviour of Mark-ups: A Technical Note," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2002(1), pages 173-188.
  25. Fontagne, Lionel & Daniel Mirza, 2002. "International Trade and Rent Sharing in Developed and Developing countries," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 77, Royal Economic Society.
  26. Hervé BOULHOL, 2008. "The Upward Bias of Markups Estimated from the Price-Based Methodology," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ENSAE, issue 89, pages 131-156.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. H. Boulhol & S. Dobbelaere & S. Maioli, 2007. "Imports as product and labour market discipline," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 07/479, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
  2. Fabrice Defever, 2011. "Incomplete Contracts and the Impact of Globalization on Consumer Welfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 3484, CESifo Group Munich.
  3. Herv� Boulhol & Sabien Dobbelaere & Sara Maioli, 2009. "Imports as Product and Labour Market Discipline," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-002/3, Tinbergen Institute.
  4. C�cile Denis & Kieran Mc Morrow & Werner R�ger, 2006. "Globalisation : trends, issues and macro implications for the EU," European Economy - Economic Papers 254, Directorate General Economic and Monetary Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  5. J. Stephen Ferris, 2012. "The Relationship Between Government Size and Economic Performance with Particular Application to New Zealand," Carleton Economic Papers 12-06, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 25 Apr 2013.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mse:wpsorb:bla05056

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Lucie Label).

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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