Mark-up and Cost Dispersion across Firms: Direct Evidence from Producer Surveys in Pakistan
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: (1) Mark-ups are more dispersed than costs; (2) Mark-ups and costs increase with firm size; (3) The mark-up elasticity with respect to size exceeds the cost elasticity; (4) Costs increase with size because larger firms use higher-quality inputs; (5) 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; (6) Correlations suggest marketing efforts are important for generating higher mark-ups.
Published Versions
David Atkin & Azam Chaudhry & Shamyla Chaudhry & Amit K. Khandelwal & Eric Verhoogen, 2015. "Markup and Cost Dispersion across Firms: Direct Evidence from Producer Surveys in Pakistan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 537-44, May. citation courtesy of