IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/88390.html

Industry rates of return in Korea and alternative theories of competition: equalising convergence versus tendential equalisation

Author

Listed:
  • Trofimov, Ivan D.

Abstract

This paper considers convergence and equalisation in industry profit rates in the Republic of Korea in the period of 1970–2015, from the perspective of alternative paradigms of competition – classical and neoclassical. Two measures of profitability are estimated: average rate of profit based on the total capital stock in the economy, and incremental rate of profit (IROP) based on the concept of regulating capital. It is shown that little convergence in industry rates of profit occur when the former measure is used, while almost complete equalisation of IROP is achieved. The classical-type equalisation takes place in particular capital accumulation and competitive settings in Korea, characterised by the prominent role of diversified conglomerate firms, the capital flows within conglomerates, investment coordination by the state, and the fast pace of capital accumulation and renewal).

Suggested Citation

  • Trofimov, Ivan D., 2018. "Industry rates of return in Korea and alternative theories of competition: equalising convergence versus tendential equalisation," MPRA Paper 88390, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:88390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/88390/1/MPRA_paper_88390.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sung-Hee Jwa, 2002. "The Evolution of Large Corporations in Korea," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2600.
    2. Kapetanios, George & Shin, Yongcheol & Snell, Andy, 2003. "Testing for a unit root in the nonlinear STAR framework," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 359-379, February.
    3. Maruyama, Nobuhiro & Odagiri, Hiroyuki, 2002. "Does the 'persistence of profits' persist?: a study of company profits in Japan, 1964-97," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1513-1533, December.
    4. Geroski, Paul A & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "The Persistence of Profits: A European Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(391), pages 375-389, June.
    5. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    6. Mikhail Stolbov, 2017. "Causality between credit depth and economic growth: evidence from 24 OECD countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 493-524, September.
    7. Demsetz, Harold, 1973. "Industry Structure, Market Rivalry, and Public Policy," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, April.
    8. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Tsaliki, Persefoni, 2011. "Classical competition and regulating capital: theory and empirical evidence," MPRA Paper 51334, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2013.
    9. Kwiatkowski, Denis & Phillips, Peter C. B. & Schmidt, Peter & Shin, Yongcheol, 1992. "Testing the null hypothesis of stationarity against the alternative of a unit root : How sure are we that economic time series have a unit root?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 159-178.
    10. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 65(3), pages 293-324.
    11. Sollis, Robert, 2009. "A simple unit root test against asymmetric STAR nonlinearity with an application to real exchange rates in Nordic countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 118-125, January.
    12. Ajit Singh, 2014. "Competition, Competition Policy, Competitiveness, Globalisation & Development," Working Papers wp460, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    13. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M. & Nourayi, Mahmoud M., 2013. "Firm profitability: Mean-reverting or random-walk behavior?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 76-97.
    14. Zivot, Eric & Andrews, Donald W K, 2002. "Further Evidence on the Great Crash, the Oil-Price Shock, and the Unit-Root Hypothesis," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 25-44, January.
    15. Shaikh, Anwar, 2016. "Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199390632.
    16. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "On the gravitation and convergence of industry profit rates in Denmark, Finland, Italy and the US," Working Papers 02/2010, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    17. Yoon, Seok, 2004. "Welfare losses due to monopoly: Korea's case," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 26(8-9), pages 945-957, December.
    18. Ito, Takatoshi & Krueger, Anne O. (ed.), 2004. "Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226386799.
    19. Clifton, James A, 1977. "Competition and the Evolution of the Capitalist Mode of Production," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(2), pages 137-151, June.
    20. Robin L. Lumsdaine & David H. Papell, 1997. "Multiple Trend Breaks And The Unit-Root Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(2), pages 212-218, May.
    21. Ajit Singh, 2016. "Competition, competition policy, competitiveness, globalization and development," Chapters, in: Erik S. Reinert & Jayati Ghosh & Rainer Kattel (ed.), Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development, chapter 35, pages 666-688, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    22. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    23. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Productivity, R&D, and Basic Research at the Firm Level in the 1970s," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 82-99, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Lee, Jaehyung, 2014. "Business Groups in Korea: Overall Concentration, Market Dominance and Diversification," KDI Policy Forum 262, Korea Development Institute (KDI).
    25. Kamerschen, David R, 1969. "The Determination of Profit Rates in "Oligopolistic Industries."," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(3), pages 293-301, July.
    26. Jack Glen & Kevin Lee & Ajit Singh, 2003. "Corporate profitability and the dynamics of competition in emerging markets: a time series analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages 465-484, November.
    27. Andreas Stephan & Andriy Tsapin, 2008. "Persistence and Determinants of Firm Profit in Emerging Markets," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 54(4), pages 231-254.
    28. Schohl, Frank, 1990. "Persistence of profits in the long run: A critical extension of some recent findings," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 385-404, September.
    29. A. M. Spence, 1981. "The Learning Curve and Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(1), pages 49-70, Spring.
    30. Adelina Gschwandtner, 2012. "Evolution Of Profit Persistence In The Usa: Evidence From Three Periods," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 80(2), pages 172-209, March.
    31. Takatoshi Ito & Anne O. Krueger, 2004. "Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ito_04-1, January.
    32. Goddard, J. A. & Wilson, J. O. S., 1999. "The persistence of profit: a new empirical interpretation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 663-687, July.
    33. Andrea Vaona, 2013. "Twenty-two econometric tests on the gravitation and convergence of industrial rates of return in New Zealand and Taiwan," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 597-611, September.
    34. Glen, Jack & Lee, Kevin & Singh, Ajit, 2001. "Persistence of profitability and competition in emerging markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 247-253, August.
    35. Haltiwanger, John C. & Lane, Julia I. & Spletzer, James R., 2007. "Wages, productivity, and the dynamic interaction of businesses and workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 575-602, June.
    36. Odagiri, Hiroyuki & Yamawaki, Hideki, 1986. "A study of company profit-rate time series : Japan and the United States," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, March.
    37. repec:bof:bofitp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201505061169 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Patrick Bajari & C. Lanier Benkard & Jonathan Levin, 2007. "Estimating Dynamic Models of Imperfect Competition," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(5), pages 1331-1370, September.
    39. Mueller,Dennis C., 2009. "Profits in the Long Run," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521101592, January.
    40. Sung Wook Joh, 2004. "The Korean Economic Crisis and Corporate Governance System," NBER Chapters, in: Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    41. Joh, Sung Wook, 2000. "Micro-Dynamics of Industrial Competition: Evidence from Korean Manufacturing Plants," KDI Policy Studies 2000-05, Korea Development Institute (KDI).
    42. Richard B. Mancke, 1974. "Causes of Interfirm Profitability Differences: A New Interpretation of the Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(2), pages 181-193.
    43. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Persefoni Tsaliki, 2005. "Marxian Theory of Competition and the Concept of Regulating Capital: Evidence from Greek Manufacturing," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 5-22, March.
    44. B. Burcin Yurtoglu, 2004. "Persistence of firm-level profitability in Turkey," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 615-625.
    45. Jan Bentzen & Erik Madsen & Valdemar Smith & Mogens Dilling-Hansen, 2005. "Persistence in Corporate Performance? Empirical Evidence from Panel Unit Root Tests," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 217-230, June.
    46. Mikhail Stolbov, 2017. "Causality between credit depth and economic growth: evidence from 24 OECD countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 493-524, September.
    47. Theodore P. Lianos & Vassilis Droucopoulos, 1993. "Convergence and Hierarchy of Industrial Profit Rates: The Case of Greek Manufacturing," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 67-80, June.
    48. Glick, Mark & Ehrbar, Hans, 1988. "Profit rate equalization in the U.S. and Europe: An econometric investigation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 179-201.
    49. Stefania Tescari & Andrea Vaona, 2014. "Regulating Rates of Return Do Gravitate in US Manufacturing!," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 377-396, July.
    50. Waring, Geoffrey F, 1996. "Industry Differences in the Persistence of Firm-Specific Returns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1253-1265, December.
    51. Andrea Vaona, 2011. "An empirical investigation into the gravitation and convergence of industry return rates in OECD countries," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 465-502.
    52. Kirzner, Israel M., 1978. "Competition and Entrepreneurship," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226437767.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M. & Nourayi, Mahmoud M., 2013. "Firm profitability: Mean-reverting or random-walk behavior?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 76-97.
    2. Sameeksha Desai & Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2020. "Entry Regulation and Persistence of Profits in Incumbent Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(3), pages 537-558, November.
    3. Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2019. "Persistence of profits in the EU: how competitive are EU member countries?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 327-351, May.
    4. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "On the gravitation and convergence of industry profit rates in Denmark, Finland, Italy and the US," Working Papers 02/2010, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    5. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Alexiou, Constantinos & Parthenidis, Thanasis, 2015. "Revisiting profit persistence and the stock market in Japan," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 10-24.
    6. Christa Sys, 2013. "Persistence of profits in the container liner shipping industry," Chapters, in: Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel (ed.), Smart Transport Networks, chapter 6, pages 99-125, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Juan Ignacio Palacio-Morena & Alejandro Mungaray-Lagarda & Lizbeth Salgado-Beltrán & Jaciel Ramsés Méndez-León, 2025. "Full Competition and Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Wiberg, Daniel, 2009. "Persistence of Profits and the Systematic Search for Knowledge - R&D and profits above the norm," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 161, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    9. Stefan Hirsch & Monika Hartmann, 2014. "Persistence of firm-level profitability in the European dairy processing industry," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 53-63, November.
    10. Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2018. "Product regulations and persistence of profits: OECD evidence," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 147-164, October.
    11. John Goddard & David McMillan & John Wilson, 2006. "Do firm sizes and profit rates converge? Evidence on Gibrat's Law and the persistence of profits in the long run," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 267-278.
    12. Stefan Hirsch, 2018. "Successful In The Long Run: A Meta†Regression Analysis Of Persistent Firm Profits," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 23-49, February.
    13. Goddard, John & Liu, Hong & Molyneux, Philip & Wilson, John O.S., 2011. "The persistence of bank profit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2881-2890, November.
    14. Stefania Tescari & Andrea Vaona, 2014. "Regulating Rates of Return Do Gravitate in US Manufacturing!," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(3), pages 377-396, July.
    15. Ömer Tuğsal Doruk, . "Neither Parasite nor Paragon: Are Business Groups a Source of Competitive Power?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 0.
    16. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "On the gravitation and convergence of industry incremental rates of return in OECD countries," Working Papers 03/2010, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    17. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Persefoni Tsaliki, 2011. "Classical Competition and Regulating Capital: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Discussion Paper Series 2011_02, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Feb 2011.
    18. Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Adelina Gschwandtner, 2006. "The competitive environment hypothesis revisited: non-linearity, nonstationarity and profit persistence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 465-472.
    19. Zeren, Feyyaz & Öztürk, Erkan, . "Testing For Profit Persistence Of Listed Manufacturing Companies In Istanbul Stock Exchange," Ekonomika, Journal for Economic Theory and Practice and Social Issues, Society of Economists Ekonomika, Nis, Serbia, vol. 61(2), pages 1-10.
    20. Ajit Singh & Ann Zammit, 2006. "Corporate Governance, Crony Capitalism and Economic Crises: should the US business model replace the Asian way of “doing business”?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 220-233, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • L0 - Industrial Organization - - General
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • L70 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - General
    • L90 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:88390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.