Dimitris Mardas, PhD, Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 156 Egnatia Str, Thessaloniki, 54006, Greece and Nikos C. Varsakelis, Ph.D, Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, p.o.box 184, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece.
Public procurement ‘Buy National Policy’ (BNP) has been one of the most significant barriers to free trade. This paper examines the impact of public procurement policy on the sectoral market structure (given by the share of public sector demand in total sectoral production) for four EU countries, France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom over 30 industrial sectors. The empirical results suggest that labour productivity, export share, and strategic position of the sector in public procurements influence significantly the public sector’s position on the sectoral domestic demand. On the other hand, the product variety and quality does not affect the public sector’s share. Finally, the impact of the sectoral strategic position in public procurements decreases in sectors with high production specialization index.