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Markups and markdowns

Author

Listed:
  • Mauro Caselli

    (School of international studies, University of Tento, Italy)

  • Stefano Schiavo

    (School of international studies, University of Tento, Italy,OFCE Sciences Po Paris, France)

  • Lionel Nesta

    (OFCE Sciences Po Paris, France & GREDEG CNRS and SKEMA Business school, France)

Abstract

This paper studies the high yet undocumented incidence of firms displaying markups lower than unity, i.e., prices lower than marginal costs, for protracted periods of time. Using a large sample of French manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2007, the paper estimates markups at the firm level and documents the extent to which firms exhibit negative price cost margins. The paper is able to provide an explanation for this phenomenon using the option value approach to investment decisions. The results suggest that firms facing higher investment irreversibility tend to continue operating even when prices fall below marginal costs as they wait for market conditions to improve. This effect is magnified in the presence of uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauro Caselli & Stefano Schiavo & Lionel Nesta, 2017. "Markups and markdowns," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2017-11, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:fce:doctra:1711
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    File URL: http://www.ofce.sciences-po.fr/pdf/dtravail/WP2017-11.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mauro Caselli & Stefano Schiavo, 2020. "Markups, import competition and exporting," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1309-1326, May.
    2. De Monte, Enrico, 2024. "Productivity, markups, and reallocation: Evidence from French manufacturing firms from 1994 to 2016," ZEW Discussion Papers 24-002, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Koppenberg, Maximilian & Hirsch, Stefan, 2020. "Comparing methods for markup estimation with an application to EU food retailing," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304272, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Mertens, Matthias & Mottironi, Bernardo, 2023. "Do larger firms exert more market power? Markups and markdowns along the size distribution," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121283, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Hirsch, Stefan & Koppenberg, Maximilian, 2020. "Power imbalances in French food retailing: Evidence from a production function approach to estimate market power," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    6. Maximilian Koppenberg, 2023. "Markups, organic agriculture and downstream concentration at the example of European dairy farmers," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 161-178, March.
    7. Maximilian Koppenberg & Stefan Hirsch, 2022. "Markup estimation: A comparison of contemporary methods at the example of European food retailers," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 108-133, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Markups; irreversibility; uncertainty; negative price-cost margins; French manufacturing data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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