Industry concentration has been rising in the US since 1980. Does this signal declining competition and need for a new antitrust policy? Or are other factors causing concentration to rise? This paper explores the role of proprietary information technology (IT), which could increase the...

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Disruption Lost -- 3 The Superstar Economy -- 4 From Open to Closed Capitalism -- 5 The Automation Paradox -- 6 The Productivity Gap -- 7 Divided Society -- 8 Regulating...

Economists disagree how much technology raises demand for workers with pre-existing skills. But technology might affect wages another way: through skills learned on the job. Using instrumental variables on 9 panels of workers from 1989 to 2013, this paper estimates that workers who use...

Do firms displace labor with new information technologies such as “artificial intelligence”? It is challenging to distinguish the effects of technology adoption from unobserved productivity and demand shocks. We take a first look at the economic impacts of large custom software investment...