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Globalization, Markups, and the U.S. Price Level

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  • Robert C. Feenstra
  • David E. Weinstein

Abstract

This paper is the first attempt to structurally estimate the impact of globalization on markups and welfare in a monopolistic competition model. To achieve this, we work with a class of preferences that allow for endogenous markups and firm entry and exit that are especially convenient for empirical work – the translog preferences, with symmetry in substitution imposed across products. Between 1992 and 2005 we find the U.S. market experienced a series of changes that confirm the predictions of Melitz and Ottaviano (2008): import shares rose and U.S. firms exited, leading to a fall in markups, while product variety and welfare went up. We estimate the impacts of these effects on a national level, and find a cumulative drop of 5.4 percent in merchandise prices and of 1.0 percent in overall consumer prices between 1992 and 2005. Although the magnitude of the welfare gains in our translog setup is similar to that obtained by assuming CES preferences, the sources of these gains are quite different. Variety gains under translog are at least one-third smaller than in the CES case, but there is a substantial reduction in U.S. markups, resulting in a comparable welfare gain overall.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 15749.

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Date of creation: Feb 2010
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15749

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Cited by:
  1. Novy, Dennis, 2013. "International trade without CES: Estimating translog gravity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 271-282.
  2. Tsechien Hsu, 2010. "An open economy general equilibrium model with heterogeneous producers, a homothetic utility function and endogenous elasticity," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 146(4), pages 799-818, December.
  3. Kristian Behrens & Yasusada Murata, 2011. "Trade, Competition, and Efficiency (revised version)," Cahiers de recherche 1118, CIRPEE.
  4. Costas Arkolakis & Arnaud Costinot & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 2009. "New Trade Models, Same Old Gains?," NBER Working Papers 15628, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Benjamin R. Mandel, 2013. "Chinese exports and U.S. import prices," Staff Reports 591, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  6. Beatriz de Blas & Katheryn Niles Russ, 2010. "Teams of rivals: endogenous markups in a Ricardian world," Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Working Paper 67, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
  7. Francesco Di Comite, 2012. "Measuring quality and non-cost competitiveness at a country-product level," European Economy - Economic Papers 467, Directorate General Economic and Monetary Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  8. 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.

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