This paper examines shifts in labour productivity growth in the United States and in Europe between 1970 and 2007 based on econometric tests of structural breaks. Additionally, it makes use of time-series-based projections of labour productivity growth up to 2009 in order to detect breaks...

This paper gives estimates of sectoral markup trends over the last three decades. It concludes with a slight increase of price-cost margins overall, contrary to the generally expected effect of increased competition. More strikingly, it establishes a clear pattern of markup convergence across...

Previous studies have emphasized that Roeger's methodology generates too high markups. This feature is confirmed on the basis of the unrealistically low capital shares implied by the estimates herein. Theoretically, it is shown that the normalization choice, the slow adjustment of capital and...

Previous analyses showed that product market deregulation often precedes labor market (LM) reforms. This paper introduces LM imperfections within an economic geography framework, the level of optimal LM regulation being based on each country's social preferences. Due to capital mobility, opening...

This paper gives estimates of sectoral markup trends in thirteen OECD countries over the last three decades. It concludes with a slight, albeit heterogeneous, increase in price-cost margins (PCMs) overall, contrary to the generally expected effect of increased competition. More strikingly, it...

This study analyzes the determinants of price-cost margins (PCMs) for OECD countries between 1970-2003. The main objective is to quantify the pro-competitive effect of international trade and understand why, despite trade liberalization, PCMs have not fallen overall. An increase of one...

The treatment of capital costs, as either fixed or variable, is key for estimating markups. Data leans clearly towards fixity, which explains the high markups emphasized in previous studies based on Roeger's methodology. Direct estimation from the ratio of output over variable costs is preferable.

There is ample evidence that a country's labour market institutions are important determinants of unemployment. This study generalises Davis' (1998) idea according to which the institutions of the trade partners matter also for a country's equilibrium unemployment rate as they generate...

Estimations of gravity equations specified in logarithm generally conclude that the distance elasticity of trade has increased over time despite globalization. In contrast, building on Santos Silva and Tenreyro (2006), this elasticity is estimated to have been stable around 0.65-0.70 since the...

Following Santos Silva and Tenreyro (2006), various studies have used the Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood to estimate gravity specifications of trade flows and non-count data models more generally. Some papers also report results based on the Negative Binomial estimator, which is more general...