IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/irvfin/v15y2015i2p169-198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dissipative Competition: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Yuk Ying Chang
  • Martin Young

Abstract

We document that contrary to the conventional view, the costs of domestic firms in terms of selling, general and administrative expenses and cost of goods sold increase significantly following exogenous shocks that increase competition, namely material import tariff cuts affecting US manufacturing industries over the period 1974–2005. Incompatible with an agency explanation, the cost increase is more pronounced among firms with higher CEO/insider/board ownership. We further find that the cost increase is more evident among firms with smaller market share and among focused firms. Generally, our results are consistent with the notion of ‘dissipative competition’ discussed in the seminal papers by Tullock.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuk Ying Chang & Martin Young, 2015. "Dissipative Competition: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 15(2), pages 169-198, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:irvfin:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:169-198
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/irfi.12050
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Spence, 1976. "Product Selection, Fixed Costs, and Monopolistic Competition," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(2), pages 217-235.
    2. Simon P. Anderson & André de Palma, 2012. "Competition for attention in the Information (overload) Age," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Abhinay Muthoo & Suresh Mutuswami, 2011. "Imperfect Competition and Efficiency in Lemons Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(552), pages 580-594, May.
    4. Roger Faith & Brian Goff & Robert Tollison, 2008. "Bequests, sibling rivalry, and rent seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 397-409, September.
    5. Oliver D. Hart, 1983. "The Market Mechanism as an Incentive Scheme," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 366-382, Autumn.
    6. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    7. Cockburn, Iain & Henderson, Rebecca, 1994. "Racing to Invest? The Dynamics of Competition in Ethical Drug Discovery," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 481-519, Fall.
    8. Nickell, Stephen J, 1996. "Competition and Corporate Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 724-746, August.
    9. Giroud, Xavier & Mueller, Holger M., 2010. "Does corporate governance matter in competitive industries?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 312-331, March.
    10. Hillman, Arye L & Katz, Eliakim, 1984. "Risk-Averse Rent Seekers and the Social Cost of Monopoly Power," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(373), pages 104-110, March.
    11. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    12. Bhagwati, Jagdish N, 1982. "Directly Unproductive, Profit-seeking (DUP) Activities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 988-1002, October.
    13. Benjamin E. Hermalin, 1992. "The Effects of Competition on Executive Behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 350-365, Autumn.
    14. Sheremeta, Roman M., 2010. "Experimental comparison of multi-stage and one-stage contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 731-747, March.
    15. Klaus M. Schmidt, 1997. "Managerial Incentives and Product Market Competition," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(2), pages 191-213.
    16. Krueger, Anne O, 1974. "The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(3), pages 291-303, June.
    17. Laurent Frésard & Philip Valta, 2016. "How Does Corporate Investment Respond to Increased Entry Threat?," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(1), pages 1-35.
    18. Valta, Philip, 2012. "Competition and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 661-682.
    19. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    20. Avinash Dixit & Victor Norman, 1978. "Advertising and Welfare," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, Spring.
    21. Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger & Stulz, René M., 2009. "Managerial ownership dynamics and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 342-361, June.
    22. Nti, Kofi O, 1999. "Rent-Seeking with Asymmetric Valuations," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 98(3-4), pages 415-430, March.
    23. Stein, William E, 2002. "Asymmetric Rent-Seeking with More Than Two Contestants," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 113(3-4), pages 325-336, December.
    24. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2011. "Corporate Governance, Product Market Competition, and Equity Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 563-600, April.
    25. Michael Raith, 2003. "Competition, Risk, and Managerial Incentives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1425-1436, September.
    26. Steven T. Berry & Joel Waldfogel, 1999. "Free Entry and Social Inefficiency in Radio Broadcasting," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 30(3), pages 397-420, Autumn.
    27. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    28. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    29. N. Gregory Mankiw & Michael D. Whinston, 1986. "Free Entry and Social Inefficiency," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 48-58, Spring.
    30. Oguzhan Ozbas & David S. Scharfstein, 2010. "Evidence on the Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 581-599, February.
    31. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    32. McConnell, John J. & Servaes, Henri & Lins, Karl V., 2008. "Changes in insider ownership and changes in the market value of the firm," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 92-106, April.
    33. Arye L. Hillman & Heinrich W. Ursprung, 2008. "Domestic Politics, Foreign Interests, and International Trade Policy," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Kai A. Konrad & Arye L. Hillman (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 2, pages 113-129, Springer.
    34. Dechow, Patricia M. & Kothari, S. P. & L. Watts, Ross, 1998. "The relation between earnings and cash flows," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 133-168, May.
    35. David Scharfstein, 1988. "Product-Market Competition and Managerial Slack," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(1), pages 147-155, Spring.
    36. Robert C. Feenstra, 1996. "U.S. Imports, 1972-1994: Data and Concordances," NBER Working Papers 5515, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Cason, Timothy N. & Sheremeta, Roman M. & Zhang, Jingjing, 2012. "Communication and efficiency in competitive coordination games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 26-43.
    38. Graziano, Clara & Parigi, Bruno M., 1998. "Do managers work harder in competitive industries?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 489-498, March.
    39. Uwe Dulleck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Matthias Sutter, 2011. "The Economics of Credence Goods: An Experiment on the Role of Liability, Verifiability, Reputation, and Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 526-555, April.
    40. Spence, Michael, 1976. "Product Differentiation and Welfare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 407-414, May.
    41. Charles J. Corbett & María J. Montes-Sancho & David A. Kirsch, 2005. "The Financial Impact of ISO 9000 Certification in the United States: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(7), pages 1046-1059, July.
    42. Baye, Michael R. & Hoppe, Heidrun C., 2003. "The strategic equivalence of rent-seeking, innovation, and patent-race games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 217-226, August.
    43. Robert C. Feenstra & John Romalis & Peter K. Schott, 2002. "U.S. Imports, Exports, and Tariff Data, 1989-2001," NBER Working Papers 9387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2018. "The Role of Stakeholders in Corporate Governance: A View from Accounting Research," CEPR Discussion Papers 12775, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Waisman, Maya, 2013. "Product market competition and the cost of bank loans: Evidence from state antitakeover laws," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4721-4737.
    3. Ujjayini Roy & Indrani Chakraborty, 2023. "Market concentration, agency cost and firm performance: a case study on Indian corporate firms," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2645-2693, August.
    4. Babar, Md. & Habib, Ahsan, 2021. "Product market competition in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Shen, Zhe & Sowah, Joseph Sowahfio & Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas Simon Peter & Li, Shan, 2023. "Competition laws and corporate risk-taking around the world," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Xede, James & Simon Peter Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas & Ofosu, Emmanuel & Wise Dodzidenu Adza, Solomon, 2023. "Competition laws, external financing and investment," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Vidhi Chhaochharia & Yaniv Grinstein & Gustavo Grullon & Roni Michaely, 2017. "Product Market Competition and Internal Governance: Evidence from the Sarbanes–Oxley Act," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1405-1424, May.
    8. Bansal, Shashank & Singh, Harminder, 2023. "Does market competition foster related party transactions? Evidence from emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    9. Bakke, Tor-Erik & Feng, Felix Zhiyu & Mahmudi, Hamed & Zhu, Caroline H., 2022. "Foreign competition and CEO risk-incentive compensation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Erhemjamts, Otgontsetseg & Tehranian, Hassan, 2019. "Competitive environment and innovation intensity," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 44-59.
    11. Tang, Yuehua, 2018. "When does competition mitigate agency problems?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 258-274.
    12. Debasis Pahi & Inder Sekhar Yadav, 2022. "Product market competition, agency cost and dividend payouts: new evidence from emerging market," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(3), pages 925-956, September.
    13. Do, Trung K. & Huang, Henry Hongren & Ouyang, Puman, 2022. "Product market threats and leverage adjustments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Goergen, Marc & Manjon, Miguel C. & Renneboog, Luc, 2008. "Recent developments in German corporate governance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 175-193, September.
    15. Alexandra Groß-Schuler & Jürgen Weigand, 2001. "Sunk Costs, Managerial Incentives and Firm Productivity," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 70(2), pages 275-287.
    16. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    17. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2009. "Does Corporate Governance Matter in Competitive Industries?," NBER Working Papers 14877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Chia‐Feng (Jeffrey) Yu & Ralf Zurbruegg, 2020. "Does market power discipline CEO power? An agency perspective," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), pages 724-752, June.
    19. Stefan Beiner & Markus M. Schmid & Gabrielle Wanzenried, 2011. "Product Market Competition, Managerial Incentives and Firm Valuation," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(2), pages 331-366, March.
    20. Ennasri, Ahmed & Willinger, Marc, 2014. "Incentives and managerial effort under competitive pressure: An experiment," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 324-337.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:irvfin:v:15:y:2015:i:2:p:169-198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1369-412X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.