Markup and Cost Dispersion across Firms: Direct Evidence from Producer Surveys in Pakistan

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2015
Volume: 105
Issue: 5
Pages: 537-44

Score contribution per author:

1.609 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Researchers typically invoke theoretical assumptions to estimate mark-ups. Instead, we directly obtain mark-ups by surveying Pakistani soccer-ball producers. We document six facts: (i) Mark-ups are more dispersed than costs; (ii) Mark-ups and costs increase with firm size; (iii) The mark-up elasticity with respect to size exceeds the cost elasticity; (iv) Costs increase with size because larger firms use higher-quality inputs; (v) Larger firms charge higher mark-ups because they have higher production shares of high-quality balls that carry higher mark-ups, and because they charge higher mark-ups conditional on ball type; (vi) Correlations suggest marketing efforts are important for generating higher mark-ups.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:5:p:537-44
Journal Field
General
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-24