How do firms shape their markets? Catching up with Javier Boncompte

Javier Boncompte was a Stone Centre PhD Scholar in 2024/2025.

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As Javier's scholarship recently came to end, we caught up with him to get his thoughts on working with the Stone Centre, and what the future holds for him.

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How did you become involved with the Stone Centre?

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I first became involved with the Stone Centre at UCL through the CORE Economics team. I was drawn to its open approach to economics and its focus on real-world issues, which closely aligned with my own interests. Over time, I became more involved by attending events, engaging with the Centre’s research, and interacting with its broader community of scholars. I was particularly excited by the opportunity to experiment with new ways of connecting economic research with wider audiences and highlighting the role economics can play in addressing important societal challenges.

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What did you study for your PhD?

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My research studies how firms shape the markets in which they operate, and how their strategic decisions affect the outcomes of public policies. My job market paper, supported by the Stone Centre PhD Scholarship, examines firms’ responses to the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy, a tax on added sugar in beverages introduced in 2018. I show that consumers are quite more senstive to prices than originally thought, but much of the policy’s impact comes from firms reformulating their products to reduce sugar content and avoid price increases, rather than consumers switching products. My work also shows that without reformulation, the tax would likely have reduced sugar consumption more, but at the cost of much higher prices that would have disproportionately affected lower-income households. These findings highlight how firms’ non-price responses play a central role in shaping the effectiveness and distributional consequences of public policy and has direct implication in policy and tax design.

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How did the Stone PhD Scholarship help you?

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First and foremost, the Stone Centre’s PhD Scholarship provided the resources I needed to complete my research and share it internationally. It allowed me to attend conferences and engage with other researchers working on related topics, which significantly improved the quality of my work through valuable feedback and discussion. I also benefited greatly from the Centre’s network, both within UCL and beyond. The Stone Centre brings together a community of researchers working on important economic issues, and being part of that network opened many doors and created opportunities for professional development.

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What have you done since your scholarship?

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It has only been a few months since the scholarship ended, but I have continued working on my research while finishing my PhD at UCL. I am also preparing to start a new academic position as Assistant Professor of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes in my home country, Chile, beginning in July 2026. More recently, I have been working on research related to international trade, more especifically, with my coauthor we study how the difficulties in keeping trade relationships over time affects exporters dynamics in developing countries and how these frictions affects their development. I am also working on a project that explore the role of firms in the adoption and diffussion of technologies in the digital era and another one on water management.

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What do you plan to do in the future?

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I am looking forward to my new role mentoring students and contributing to the development of economic research in Chile and Latin America. In the coming years, I plan to continue developing research that helps us better understand the role firms play in addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges. My work spans a range of settings, from food markets and taxation to international trade and digital markets, but the common thread is understanding how firms’ strategic decisions shape the markets they operate in and ultimately affect people’s lives. More broadly, economics can help us design institutions and policies that align incentives so society can tackle these challenges more effectively and making sure we all pulling together.

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I am currently starting a new project on water management. Water is a critical resource, and how it is allocated has important implications for inequality, particularly in developing countries. In this project, I study the barriers to accessing water and how these frictions can lead to the misallocation of water resources, potentially limiting the growth of small farmers.

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Useful links

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Javier's website

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