Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/192220 
Year of Publication: 
1998
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 237
Publisher: 
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Oslo
Abstract: 
This paper analyses how changes in market structure have affected the margins (measured by the Lerner index) of Norwegian aluminium plants. Instead of showing the expected negative trend, due to increased competition internationally, the margins are found to move procyclically around a constant that significantly exceeds zero. Three explanations for this stability in the levels of the margins are identified; a better exploitation of scale economies, increased productivity and product specialisation which allows Norwegian producer prices to increase more rapidly than the international reference price.
Subjects: 
Lerner index
Translog cost function
Aluminium industry
Differentiated products
JEL: 
C23
D21
D43
L61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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