We suggest an equilibrium mechanism for the widely debated argument that “greedflation” has fostered widespread price hikes.
We construct firm and industry-level measures of supply chain backlogs and delivery delays and provide evidence that supply chain shortages are associated with a decrease in competition at the industry level.
We show that “superstar” firms acquire market shares and increase their markups and profitability relative to the smaller firms in the industry. We also show that the large increase in supply chain backlogs during the COVID-19 pandemic can help explain about 19\% of the US inflation in industries with more asymmetric firm size distribution, where supply chain shortages are more likely to benefit large firms at the expense of smaller firms. Economic magnitudes are comparable in the international sample.
Roberto Tubaldi is an Assistant Professor of Finance at BI Oslo - Norwegian Business School.
Roberto holds a Ph.D. from the Swiss Finance Institute at USI Lugano. During the Ph.D., he was visiting researcher at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
His research interests are in corporate finance and asset management, with a particular focus on how corporate managers utilize secondary financial markets for decision-making. Currently, his research investigates the impact of supply chain shortages on market power.
The seminar will be held in English.
Major information: Giulia Baschieri (giulia.baschieri@unibo.it).