Profits in the long-term for the manufacturing sector

It is foreseeable that the integration of domestic economies into a single market (globalization) will have a direct consequence on firm profits. Firms will see their returns converge in the long-term towards an equilibrium value that is identical to that of diverse firms coming from other economies. The authors' objective is to test the existence of a process of convergence between economies. Thus, they analyze the evolution of the competitive process of the manufacturing sector in eight countries. The results suggest that even though the competitive forces that operate at an international level will result in the convergence of the respective returns of firms in the long-term, the convergence process is only partial. (JEL 16)This research has been financed by the MCYT-FEDER Research Project SEC 2002-00835