Industry concentration and optimal discriminatory commercial policies

Abstract

We derive the characteristics of firm-specific strategic trade policies when industries consist of heterogenous firms, and show how the informational requirements for policy design are thereby expanded. A knowledge of the Herfindahl index of concentration of the foreign industry is required for the design of optimal protection for domestic firms. It is shown that optimal firm-specific tariffs reduce the degree of foreign concentration, thus shifting rents to domestic firms.

Keywords:

• Strategic trade policies
• Herfindahl index
• heterogeneous firms