The impact of NAFTA on prices and competition: Evidence from Mexican manufacturing plants

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brugues, Felipe; Kikkawa, Ayumu Ken; Mei, Yuan; Robles, Pablo
• 署名单位: Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico; University of British Columbia; National Bureau of Economic Research; Singapore Management University; The Brattle Group
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2025.104085
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Markup estimation; Multi-product plants; trade liberalization; FTAs; Pro-and Anti-competitive effects

摘要

This paper assesses the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Mexican manufacturing plants' output prices and markups. We distinguish between Mexican goods that are exported and those sold domestically, and decompose their prices separately into markups and marginal costs. We then analyze how these components were affected by the reductions in Mexican output tariffs, intermediate input tariffs, and U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports. We find that domestically sold products saw a decline in prices as Mexican plants faced more competition and gained access to cheaper inputs. Prices of exported goods fell only slightly as plants increased their markups in response to a favorable competitive environment due to declines in U.S. tariffs.