The article looks at how much more companies charge for their products compared to what it costs to make them in Italy. They found that most industries were not perfectly competitive between 1977 and 1995. The prices companies set varied a lot during economic ups and downs, which helps explain why previous studies had conflicting results. In industries where a few big companies dominate, prices tended to go up when the economy was doing poorly. Also, competition from both local and foreign companies pushed prices down.