American Economic Review · 2024 · Spencer Yongwook Kwon、Yueran Ma、Kaspar Zimmermann
中文摘要
我们收集了美国企业规模分布100年的数据，并利用这些数据估计生产集中度（例如，头部企业的资产份额或销售份额）。数据显示，过去一个世纪以来集中度持续上升。在20世纪70年代之前，制造业和采矿业的集中度上升更为显著；而在20世纪70年代之后，服务业、零售业和批发业的集中度上升更为显著。结果对不同测量方法具有稳健性，且在不同历史来源之间保持一致。我们的发现表明，长期以来大企业在美国经济中已变得更为重要。(JEL D22, E24, L11, L25, N12)
Abstract
We collect data on the size distribution of US businesses for 100 years, and use these data to estimate the concentration of production (e.g., asset share or sales share of top businesses). The data show that concentration has increased persistently over the past century. Rising concentration was stronger in manufacturing and mining before the 1970s, and stronger in services, retail, and wholesale after the 1970s. The results are robust to different measurement methods and consistent across different historical sources. Our findings suggest that large firms have become more important in the US economy for a long period of time. (JEL D22, E24, L11, L25, N12)