Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP4373
Authors: Elisabetta Allegra; Mario Forni; Michele Grillo; Lara Magnani
Abstract: Anti-trust problems affecting markets for intermediate goods or services raise the input costs of firms operating in downstream sectors, which often face tough international competition. Such firms lose market share, thus worsening the economic performance of the country. We try to document the importance of this link between competition problems and growth by analysing Italian sectoral data. We find that sectors which depend more heavily on inputs and services produced in sectors suffering from competition problems perform worse in terms of net exports, export growth and output growth.
Keywords: antitrust; growth; international competition
JEL Codes: L40; O40
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Antitrust problems in upstream markets (L41) | Increased production costs for downstream firms (L11) |
| Antitrust problems in upstream markets (L41) | Economic performance in downstream sectors (O49) |
| Dependence on problematic sectors (L52) | Economic performance in downstream sectors (O49) |
| Dependence on problematic sectors (L52) | Net exports (F10) |
| Dependence on problematic sectors (L52) | Export growth (F43) |
| Dependence on problematic sectors (L52) | Output growth (O40) |