Price Updating in Production Networks. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 352

This paper evaluates how firms change their prices in response to cost shocks and other price changes in their environment. We first document three new facts on the heterogeneity of firm-level producer prices and their relation-ship to buyers and suppliers in a production network. We then develop a non-parametric framework of how producers update their prices, taking into account this production network. The framework is very general, and accounts for the heterogeneity in price changes and the production network from the stylized facts. Moreover, the framework is consistent with various price setting mechanisms, and does not impose a particular market structure or demand func-tional form. Exploiting rich data on producer prices and the network structure of production in Belgium, we estimate the model to evaluate the importance of both channels in the data. We find that, on average, input price pass-through is incomplete and very much below one, while firms also strongly react to other prices in their environment. This implies that firms can adjust their markups in response to both cost shocks and prices of other firms. Furthermore, firms react differently to common shocks than to idiosyncratic shocks, on average completely passing through common shocks, but much less idiosyncratic shocks

The Belgian production network 2002‑2012. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 288

This paper presents the Belgian inter-firm network for the years 2002 to 2012. Combining raw data from VAT listings, VAT declarations and annual accounts information, we build a unique and consistent database containing values of transactions between enterprises in the Belgian economy. The dataset spans Primary Industries, Manufacturing, Utilities, Market Services and Non-Market Services. This dataset, unparalleled in coverage at the firm-to-firm level and its panel dimension, allows one to analyze a broad spectrum of research questions in industrial organization, international trade, network theory etc. As a simple example of the potential of this dataset, we evaluate the position of enterprises in the Belgian network, their distance to final demand and their relationship with exports and imports. The degree of upstreamness, defined as a weighted distance to final demand, of the average enterprise is 1.6, ranging between 1 and 9.5. While only 5 % of enterprises export, 82 % of the enterprises in the Belgian network are producing goods and services that are either directly or indirectly exported after transformation or use. On the ip side, only 9 % of enterprises are importers but 99 % of firms are either importers or have importers in their supply chain and therefore consume imported inputs indirectly. However, we find large interand intra-sectoral as well as inter-regional heterogeneity in enterprise positions in the Belgian production network

The Belgian production network 2002-2012

This paper presents the Belgian inter-firm network for the years 2002 to 2012. Combining raw data from VAT listings, VAT declarations and annual accounts information, we build a unique and consistent database containing values of transactions between enterprises in the Belgian economy. The dataset spans Primary Industries, Manufacturing, Utilities, Market Services and Non-Market Services. This dataset, unparalleled in coverage at the firm-to-firm level and its panel dimension, allows one to analyze a broad spectrum of research questions in industrial organization, international trade, network theory etc. As a simple example of the potential of this dataset, we evaluate the position of enterprises in the Belgian network, their distance to final demand and their relationship with exports and imports. The degree of upstreamness, defined as a weighted distance to final demand, of the average enterprise is 1.6, ranging between 1 and 9.5. While only 5 % of enterprises export, 82 % of the enterprises in the Belgian network are producing goods and services that are either directly or indirectly exported after transformation or use. On the ip side, only 9 % of enterprises are importers but 99 % of firms are either importers or have importers in their supply chain and therefore consume imported inputs indirectly. However, we find large interand intra-sectoral as well as inter-regional heterogeneity in enterprise positions in the Belgian production network

Imperfect competition in firm-to-firm trade. National Bank of Belgium, Working Paper No. 363

This paper studies the implications of imperfect competition in firm-to-firm trade. Using a dataset on all transactions between Belgian firms, we find that firms charge higher markups if they have higher input shares among their buyers. We interpret this as firms competing as oligopolies to supply inputs to each buyer and build a model in which they charge different markups to different buyers. We use the estimated model to quantify how distortionary firm-to-firm markups are. Reducing all markups in firm-to-firm trade by 20 percent increases welfare by around 7 percent, suggesting large distortions due to double marginalization. We then investigate how endogenous markups in firm-to-firm trade alter predictions of the transmission of shocks. In the counterfactual where we take a fall in import prices as the shock, we show that allowing for oligopolistic competition generates larger cost reductions for some firms, and attenuates these for others relative to a case with constant markups. We demonstrate that a measure capturing firms’ positions in the production chain is a key metric in explaining this heterogeneity

Heterogeneous firms and the micro origins of aggregate fluctuations. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 312

This paper evaluates the impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks to individual firms on aggregate output. Two sources of firm-level heterogeneity contribute to aggregate fluctuations: (i) asymmetries in supplier-buyer relationships and (ii) the skewed distribution of sales to final demand. We first develop a model with monopolistic competitive firms and derive a generalized centrality measure that takes these two sources of heterogeneity into account. The model is subsequently estimated using unique data on firm-to-firm transactions across all economic activities in Belgium. The model generates aggregate volatility from micro origins in the same order of magnitude as observed volatility in GDP. The top 100 firms contribute to 90% of the volatility generated by the model, underlining a strong granularity of the economy. Counterfactual analysis further shows that both sources of micro heterogeneity contribute substantially to aggregate fluctuations, while the relative contribution of each channel crucially depends on the labor share in the economy

The origins of firm heterogeneity: A production network approach. National Bank of Belgium, Working Paper No. 362

This paper quantifies the origins of firm size heterogeneity when firms are interconnected in a production network. Using the universe of buyer-supplier relationships in Belgium, the paper develops a set of stylized facts that motivate a model in which firms buy inputs from upstream suppliers and sell to downstream buyers and final demand. Larger firm size can come from high production capability, more or better buyers and suppliers, and/or better matches between buyers and suppliers. Downstream factors explain the vast majority of firm size heterogeneity. Firms with higher production capability have greater market shares among their customers, but also higher input costs and fewer customers. As a result, high production capability firms have lower sales unconditionally and higher sales conditional on their input prices. Counterfactual analysis suggests that the production network accounts for more than half of firm size dispersion. Taken together, our results suggest that multiple firm attributes underpin their success or failure, and that models with only one source of firm heterogeneity fail to capture the majority of firm size dispersion

Imperfect Competition in Firm-to-Firm Trade

peer reviewedAbstract This paper studies the implications of imperfect competition in firm-to-firm trade. Exploiting data on the universe of sales relationships between Belgian firms, we document that firms’ markups increase in the average input shares among their buyers. Motivated by this fact, we develop and estimate a model where firms charge buyer–supplier-specific markups that depend on the bilateral input shares. We find markup dispersion within firms across buyers creates substantial welfare loss: Aggregate welfare increases by around 6% when firms are banned from charging different markups across buyers

The origins of firm heterogeneity: a production network approach

This paper quantifies the origins of firm size heterogeneity when firms are interconnected in a production network. Using the universe of buyer-supplier relationships in Belgium, the paper develops a set of stylized facts that motivate a model in which firms buy inputs from upstream suppliers and sell to downstream buyers and final demand. Larger firm size can come from high production capability, more or better buyers and suppliers, and/or better matches between buyers and suppliers. Downstream factors explain the vast majority of firm size heterogeneity. Firms with higher production capability have greater market shares among their customers, but also higher input costs and fewer customers. As a result, high production capability firms have lower sales unconditionally and higher sales conditional on their input prices. Counterfactual analysis suggests that the production network accounts for more than half of firm size dispersion. Taken together, our results suggest that multiple firm attributes underpin their success or failure, and that models with only one source of firm heterogeneity fail to capture the majority of firm size dispersion

Building an alliance to map global supply networks

The global economy consists of more than 300 million firms, connected through an estimated 13 billion supply links [see supplementary materials (SM)], that produce most goods and services. It has long been unthinkable to analyze the world economy at the firm level, even less so its intricate network of supply chain linkages. This blind spot has left us ill-prepared to make fast and well-informed decisions, begetting, for example, prolonged shortages in raw materials and critical medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the availability of new data and recent methodological advances allow us to reconstruct a large share of the global firm-level supply network. Because mapping this network is likely to continue to improve, it is essential to initiate a discussion about responsible management and effective use of these data for the global public good. This requires new collaborative efforts between nations, their public institutions, international organizations, the private sector, and scientists