Concentration in Product Markets
This paper measures concentration in narrowly defined product markets for a broad range of consumer goods and services in the U.S. from 1994 to 2019. We document two main empirical facts. First, concentration levels are high. 44.4% of the markets in our sample are “highly concentrated” as defined by U.S. regulators. Second, market concentration has been decreasing since 1994. The median HHI falls from 2362 to 2045. These findings stand in stark contrast to the prior literature, which uses market definitions that are aggregated to a level that is typically too broad to accurately reflect competition in consumer markets.
Non-Technical Summaries
- Viewed from the consumer’s vantage point, 44.4 percent of all industries were highly concentrated in 1994, compared with 36.6 percent...
Related
More from NBER
In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.
