|
Archive@NYU >
Stern School of Business >
Economics Working Papers >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/26182
|
| Title: | What's Been Happening To Aggregate Concentration in the United States?
(And Should We Care?), |
| Authors: | White, Lawrence J. |
| Keywords: | aggregate concentration
mergers
size distribution of firms |
| Issue Date: | 11-Dec-2001 |
| Series/Report no.: | EC-02-03 |
| Abstract: | In this paper I assemble and array two rarely used data sets to measure
the extent of aggregate concentration the share of national economic
activity accounted for by the largest X companies in the U.S. in the
1980s and 1990s. The data show clearly that, despite the substantial
merger wave of the 1980s and the far larger wave of the 1990s, aggregate
concentration declined in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Aggregate
concentration increased after the mid 1990s, but the levels at the end
of the decade were still at or below the levels of the late 1980s or
early 1990s. The average size of firm did increase, however, and the
relative importance of the larger size classes of firms increased
generally. Gini coefficients computed for employment shares and payroll
shares of companies showed moderate but steady increases from 1988
through 1998. In the conclusion of the paper I offer some tentative
hypotheses for explaining these patterns. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/26182 |
| Appears in Collections: | Economics Working Papers
|
All items in Faculty Digital Archive are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved.
|
