How Costly Is Rising Market Power for the U.S. Economy?

Economic Brief
July 2023, No. 23-24
How Costly Is Rising Market Power for the U.S. Economy?
By Chen Yeh

We survey the recent, active debate on market power in the U.S. economy. While typical studies on market power focused on narrow industries due to data constraints, the relevance of market power for the aggregate economy was reinvigorated by a study focusing on publicly traded firms that documented a significant rise in U.S market power since the 1980s. This article is meant to provide a bird's-eye view of the (sometimes heated) discussion on market power. Furthermore, we examine the macroeconomic consequences of a rise in U.S. market power.


While economists are fully aware of the qualitative ramifications of market power, there are surprisingly few studies that try to quantify it. In this article, we survey the recent, active debate on market power and explore the implications of rising market power for the U.S. economy. We do so by first reviewing the study that documented a significant rise in U.S. market power since the 1980s. This study ignited the debate on market power, leading to many follow-up studies and criticism.

Excerpt: For an economy to achieve efficiency, it needs to be perfectly competitive. Only under this specific case are goods and services produced and sold at the lowest possible price. In the absence of perfect competition, however, resources are not allocated optimally, and consumers face higher prices due to firms exerting their market power. As a result, high levels of market power could have devastating consequences for welfare and inequality.

https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2023/eb_23-24


( The brief is somewhat long but not boring. How greed works is systematic and pervasive. )