Price-Cost Margins, Exports and Productivity Growth: With an Application to Canadian Industries

A model is estimated for oligopolistic industries producing multiple outputs in short-run equilibrium. Outputs are sold domestically and exported, while capital is treated as a quasi-fixed factor. The model is applied to the Canadian nonelectrical machinery, electrical products and chemical products industries. The results show that there is significant oligopoly power in each of the industries, and that the degree of this power differs between the domestic and export markets. Total factor productivity is decomposed. Price-cost margins exert little influence but the rate of technological change, returns to scale and the rate of capital adjustment determine productivity growth.