Abstract

FLORES, Yarela  and  WATTS, David. Competencia en el sector bancario chileno. Una aproximación dinámica. El trimestre econ [online]. 2012, vol.79, n.316, pp.865-903. ISSN 2448-718X.

Latin America faces a growing concentration of banking markets, situation that worries both the public and the media for its potential impact on competition, access to credit at competitive rates, and thus the potential impact on its economic and social development. This paper provides a brief literature review of banking competition in Latin American, and then assesses market power in the Chilean banking market. Using a novel dynamic reformulation of the static conduct pa rameter model, we conclude that intertemporal relationships in the supply and demand for credit are very important, so that the use of static models to measure competition would be misleading, delivering biased parameters' estimates. Finally, it is estimated that Chilean banks exert significant market power, especially in the long run, similar to a symmetric Cournot equilibrium of 40 banks, as the market had in the early 90's.

Keywords : poder de mercado; método del parámetro de comportamiento; industria bancaria; modelo de corrección de errores; cointegración; concentración; competencia; variación conjetural.