• DOI:10.1257/JEP.33.3.23
• Corpus ID: 201326865

Macroeconomics and Market Power: Context, Implications, and Open Questions

@article{Syverson2019MacroeconomicsAM,
  title={Macroeconomics and Market Power: Context, Implications, and Open Questions},
  author={Chad Syverson},
  journal={Journal of Economic Perspectives},
  year={2019}
}

• C. Syverson
• Published 1 August 2019
• Economics
• Journal of Economic Perspectives

This article assesses several aspects of recent macroeconomic market power research. These include the ways market power is defined and measured; the use of accounting data to estimate markups; the quantitative implications of theoretical connections among markups, prices, costs, scale elasticities, and profits; and conflicting evidence on whether greater market power has led to lower investment rates and a lower labor share of income. Throughout this discussion, I characterize the congruencies and incongruencies between macro evidence and micro views of market power and, when they do not perfectly overlap, explain the open questions that need to be answered to make the connection complete.