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Firms’ Price Markups and Returns to Scale in Imperfect Markets - Bulgaria and Hungary

Author

Listed:
  • Rumen Dobrinsky

    (UN Economic Commission for Europe, Palais des Nations, Geneva)

  • Gabor Korosi

    (Institute of Economics Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

  • Nikolay Markov

    (Centre for Economic and Strategic Research, Bulgaria)

  • Laszlo Halpern

    (Institute of Economics Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract
Under perfect competition and constant returns to scale, firms producing homogeneous products set their prices at their marginal costs which also equal their average costs. However, the departure from these standard assumptions has important implications with respects to the derived theoretical results and the validity of the related empirical analysis. In particular, monopolistic firms will charge a markup over their marginal costs. We show that firms' markups tend to be directly associated with the employed production technology, more specifically with their returns to scale. Accordingly, we analyze the implications for the markup ratios from the incidence of non-constant returns to scale. We present quantitative results illustrating the effect of the returns to scale index on the firms' price markups, as well as the relationship between the two indicators, on the basis of firm-level data for Bulgarian and Hungarian manufacturing firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Rumen Dobrinsky & Gabor Korosi & Nikolay Markov & Laszlo Halpern, 2004. "Firms’ Price Markups and Returns to Scale in Imperfect Markets - Bulgaria and Hungary," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0412, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:0412
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gradzewicz, Michal & Hagemejer, Jan, 2007. "Marże monopolistyczne i przychody skali w gospodarce polskiej [Monopolistic markups and returns to scale in the Polish economy]," MPRA Paper 46496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Chrysovalantis Amountzias, 2017. "An Investigation of the Degree of Market Power in the Greek Manufacturing and Service Industries," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 447-464, December.
    3. Alexandra Lopes, 2006. "The Costs of EMU for Transition Countries," Computing in Economics and Finance 2006 149, Society for Computational Economics.
    4. Chrysovalantis Amountzias, 2018. "The Effects of Competition, Liquidity and Exports on Markups: Evidence from the UK Food and Beverages Sector," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 187-208, June.
    5. András Simonovits, 2006. "Social Security Reform in the US: Lessons from Hungary," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0602, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, revised 24 Apr 2006.
    6. Rosen Marinov, 2010. "Competitive Pressure in Transition: A Role for Trade and Competition Policies?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, March.
    7. Kamil Galuscak & Lubomir Lizal, 2011. "The Impact of Capital Measurement Error Correction on Firm-Level Production Function Estimation," Working Papers 2011/09, Czech National Bank.
    8. Rezitis, Anthony N. & Kalantizi, Maria A., 2012. "Investigating market structure of the Greek food and beverages manufacturing industry: A Hall-Roeger approach," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17.
    9. Iván Major, 2006. "Why do (or do not) banks share customer information? A comparison of mature private credit markets and markets in transition," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0603, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, revised 24 Apr 2006.
    10. Anthony Rezitis & Maria Kalantzi, 2011. "Investigating Market Structure of the Greek Manufacturing Industry: A Hall-Roeger Approach," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 39(4), pages 383-400, December.
    11. Rezitis, Anthony N., 2010. "Evaluating the state of competition of the Greek banking industry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 68-90, February.
    12. Carlos Figueira & Ricardo Pinheiro-Alves, 2023. "Evolution of price-cost margins during the troika intervention," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 22(3), pages 315-351, September.
    13. Uluc Aysun, 2010. "Testing for Balance Sheet Effects in Emerging Markets: A Non‐Crisis Setting," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 223-256, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    markup pricing; market imperfections; return to scale; Bulgaria; Hungary;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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