IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v38y2020i3p483-495.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Has Been Happening To Aggregate Concentration In The U.S. Economy In The Twenty‐First Century?

Author

Listed:
  • Lawrence J. White
  • Jasper Yang

Abstract

This paper extends earlier data series on aggregate concentration in the U.S. economy—the percentage of aggregate economic activity that could be attributed to the largest “X” companies—into the first two decades of the twenty‐first century. We find that there has been a moderate but continued increase in aggregate concentration since the mid‐1990s. This increase appears in data on employment and payrolls that have been compiled by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as employment and profits data that are drawn from the annual “Fortune 500” lists. This increase does not, however, appear to have raised aggregate concentration above the levels of the early 1980s. (JEL L10, L11, L19)

Suggested Citation

  • Lawrence J. White & Jasper Yang, 2020. "What Has Been Happening To Aggregate Concentration In The U.S. Economy In The Twenty‐First Century?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 483-495, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:38:y:2020:i:3:p:483-495
    DOI: 10.1111/coep.12460
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12460
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/coep.12460?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Pierre-Daniel Sarte & Nicholas Trachter, 2021. "Diverging Trends in National and Local Concentration," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 115-150.
    2. Devra L. Golbe & Lawrence J. White, 1988. "A Time-Series Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions in the U.S. Economy," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences, pages 265-310, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Lawrence J. White, 2002. "Trends in Aggregate Concentration in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 137-160, Fall.
    4. White, Lawrence J, 1981. "On Measuring Aggregate Concentration: A Reply [What Has Been Happening to Aggregate Concentration in the United States?]," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 223-224, December.
    5. Lawrence J. White & Jasper Yang, 2017. "What Has Been Happening to Aggregate Concentration in the U.S. Economy in the 21st Century?," Working Papers 17-03, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    6. George J. Stigler, 1940. "Notes on the Theory of Duopoly," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 521-521.
    7. White, Lawrence J, 1981. "What Has Been Happening to Aggregate Concentration in the United States?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 223-230, March.
    8. Weiss, Leonard W, 1972. "The Geographic Size of Markets in Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 54(3), pages 245-257, August.
    9. Richard E. Caves, 1998. "Industrial Organization and New Findings on the Turnover and Mobility of Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1947-1982, December.
    10. B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1990. "Multimarket Contact and Collusive Behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(1), pages 1-26, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julien Hanoteau & Jean‐Jacques Rosa, 2019. "Information technologies and entrepreneurship," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 200-212, March.
    2. Lawrence J. White & Jasper Yang, 2017. "What Has Been Happening to Aggregate Concentration in the U.S. Economy in the 21st Century?," Working Papers 17-03, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    3. Lawrence J. White, 2002. "What's Been Happening To Aggregate Concentration in the United States? (And Should We Care?)," Working Papers 02-03, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    4. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2015. "The Rise and Decline of General Laws of Capitalism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 3-28, Winter.
    5. Michael Dietrich, 2003. "Giant Firms in the Information Economy," Working Papers 2003006, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2003.
    6. Lawrence J. White, 2002. "Trends in Aggregate Concentration in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 137-160, Fall.
    7. Edward Nissan & George Carter, 2011. "The Largest Trans-nationals of Developing Economies," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 39(1), pages 71-83, March.
    8. Lalit Manral, 2015. "The demand-side dynamics of entrant heterogeneity," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 401-445, April.
    9. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, September.
    10. G. Coleman, 2002. "Contesting the Magic of the Market-place: Black Employment and Business Concentration in the Urban Context," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 1793-1818, September.
    11. Hellmann, Thomas & Thiele, Veikko, 2022. "May the force be with you: Investor power and company valuations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    12. Ioannis Kessides & Li Tang, 2010. "Sunk Costs, Market Contestability, and the Size Distribution of Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 37(3), pages 215-236, November.
    13. Kwon, Spencer Y. & Ma, Yueran & Zimmermann, Kaspar, 2022. "100 years of rising corporate concentration," SAFE Working Paper Series 359, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    14. Carreira, Carlos & Teixeira, Paulino, 2011. "Entry and exit as a source of aggregate productivity growth in two alternative technological regimes," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 135-150, June.
    15. Chang-Yang Lee & Ji-Hwan Lee & Ajai S. Gaur, 2017. "Are large business groups conducive to industry innovation? The moderating role of technological appropriability," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 313-337, June.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/21q7rlmakq8ca9c6o2imhini9d is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Sakakibara, Mariko, 1997. "Evaluating government-sponsored R&D consortia in Japan: who benefits and how?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 447-473, December.
    18. Conconi, Paola & Perroni, Carlo, 2009. "Do credible domestic institutions promote credible international agreements?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 160-170, September.
    19. Florin Maican & Matilda Orth, 2017. "Productivity Dynamics and the Role of ‘Big-Box’ Entrants in Retailing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 397-438, June.
    20. Kaplow, Louis & Shapiro, Carl, 2007. "Antitrust," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 1073-1225, Elsevier.
    21. Julia Gray, 2024. "The life cycle of international cooperation: Introduction to the special issue," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 641-664, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L19 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:38:y:2020:i:3:p:483-495. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.