【Job Talk】When Cutting Out the Middleman Backfires: Disintermediation, Wholesale Markups, and Misallocation
2026/01/12
研討會日期 : 2026-01-12
時間 : 10:30
主講人 : Mr. Yiu-Hing Barron Tsai (蔡耀慶)
地點 : Conference Room B110
主持人 : Professor Wen-Tai Hsu
演講者 : Mr. Tsai is expected to receive his Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University in 2026. His research fields are Trade, Industrial Organization, and Macroeconomics. He is applying for a position of the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica now.
演講摘要 : I study the welfare implications of technology-induced disintermediation using a production network model with endogenous intermediation, wholesaler entry and exit, and markups. Wholesalers economize on the search costs of forming buyer-supplier relationships, but as direct trade technology improves, demand for intermediation falls: marginal wholesalers exit, survivors gain market share, and markups rise. These higher markups distort relative input prices and misallocate resources, partially offsetting the gains from disintermediation. I test the model’s predictions using Turkish firm-to-firm transactions, exploiting the staggered rollout of fiber internet. Consistent with theory, provinces with faster fiber growth see less intermediated trade, fewer wholesalers, and higher wholesale markups. Calibrating the model to these responses, endogenous markup increases reduce welfare gains from fiber-induced disintermediation by 30%. The results demonstrate that technologies enabling firms to bypass intermediaries can generate unintended efficiency losses by consolidating wholesale market power, highlighting the potential role for complementary competition policy.
