Price filter: a sectoral profit tracking algorithm

This article resumes the author’s Ph.D. thesis main aspects and results. It presents an algorithm which enables one to measure sectorial mark-ups variations not using accounting data from firms. That instrument has the capability of discounting the impact of variations in relative prices and in productivity for inputs, from the variation of final prices of sector. The testing of the algorithm revealed a clear positive correlation between mark-up variations and degree of industrial concentration, higher and more significant in the recession period (1980-1983) than in the growth one (1977-1980).

KEYWORDS:
Relative prices; price determination; profit margins