摘要：This paper presents empirical evidence that a higher degree of product
market competition leads to a permanently lower in°ation rate.
Among a broad set of possible candidate variables, the indicator for
product market competition used in this paper (the markup) is superior
in explaining in°ation di.erentials across twenty-one OECD countries
and also across the subset of EU member states. Using a regulation index,
it is conˉrmed that the markup is indeed a good proxy for product
market competition.
