DP2636 Competition
Author(s): | Jan Boone |
Publication Date: | December 2000 |
Keyword(s): | Competition, Concentration, Measures Of Competition, Price Cost Margin, Profits |
JEL(s): | D43, L13 |
Programme Areas: | Industrial Organization |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=2636 |
Competition has been modelled in economic literature in a number of ways. What do these different parameterizations of competition have in common? For instance, it turns out that it is not always the case that a rise in competition reduces price cost margins, industry wide profits or concentration. All parameterizations of competition, considered here, have two features in common. First, the reallocation effect: a rise in competition raises the profits of a firm relative to the profits of a less efficient firm. Second, a rise in competition reduces the profits of the least efficient firm active in the industry.