Although citizens value competitive markets and support small businesses, we observe substantial variation in market concentration. Why do politicians abstain from taking action to reduce concentration? We propose an often overlooked political benefit to concentrated markets: When concentration...

We study how inflation varies across regions with different income levels and the role of retailer market structure. Using NielsenIQ Retail Scanner and Business Dynamics Statistics data, we document new stylized facts of spatial heterogeneity in food inflation and retailer market structure. From...

Economic super-powers are racing to control critical minerals in developing economies fueling conflict, environmental damage and poverty. In this paper, we first explore what could well constitute a new “critical minerals curse”. We then highlight the dualism of institutions required for...

This paper studies the relationship between market concentration and aggregate productivity when firmlevel demand emerges from past marketing investments. Granular firms may invest in demand both to complement their productivity and to amplify market power-this second force can create persistent...

Given the changing landscape of fuel retailing, this study explores the impact of spatial competition and market concentration on diesel prices in Germany. The question of how population density and gas station density, i.e. the equilibrium pattern of locations of firms, are related is examined....

Antitrust policy aims to reduce market concentration and increase competition among firms. Contemporary antitrust is sensitive to both domestic and international considerations. Internationally, the market is dominated by the largest firms, raising questions about the competitiveness of domestic...

Policymakers face a dilemma in determining the optimal approach to regulating highly concentrated markets, especially in the context of digital government initiatives in healthcare. The current study investigates whether vendor market concentration facilitates or impedes efficiency in health...

This paper investigates real earnings management (REM) practices in public non-financial companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) from 2014 to 2023, focusing on sectoral differences and the influence of market competition. REM, defined as deviations from normal business operations...

This paper identifies price dislocation events in EuroSTOXX 50 futures, i.e., periods marked by high absolute returns. Combining public limit order book data with confidential trade repository data collected under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), we analyze market conditions...

We analyse changes in market structure in India between 2000 and 2020 using a rich dataset at high levels of disaggregation. We examine the extent to which business groups - notably family-owned groups - have maintained dominant market positions in the Indian economy. We focus on two key...

We study the interaction of customer capital and productivity through brand reallocation across firms. We develop a firm dynamics model with brands as transferable customer capital, heterogeneous firm productivity, and variable markups. We study the matching process between transferable brand...

The model of perfect competition is one of the most famous, most important, and most misunderstood concepts in economics. Rather than aiming to be a full-blown model of real-world competitive markets, the perfect competition model isolates the decentralized coordination mechanism inherent in all...

Using a macro-level dataset covering 173 countries from 2000 to 2020, this study is the first attempt to examine how income diversification and market concentration are related to bank stability. Firstly, we document that bank stability is positively related to revenue diversification,...

This study quantitatively investigates the collaborative framework and competitive landscape of Thailand's evolving music industry, driven by technological progress and changing consumer preferences. By examining data obtained from Thailand's Department of Intellectual Property, specifically...

This study investigates how market concentration (MC) and institutional quality (IQ) influence bank stability in developing nations, focusing on 80 banks in the ASEAN 4 countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand) from 2006 to 2019. The study utilises the generalised method of...

Governments spend considerable resources providing goods directly. We show that such behavior may increase welfare when private suppliers have market power. We do this by studying the staggered rollout of hundreds of government milk "ration stores" in Mexico using a proprietary panel of...

The aim of this paper was to analyse the relationship be-tween market concentration and market interest rate. Taking intothought the relationship between the level of concentration within amarket and the level of competition, it can be deduced that an incre-ment in concentration results in a...

The functioning of the banking sector is key for economic growth. In this paper, we first gather banks' balance sheet monthly regulatory information in a consistent manner for seven Latin American countries. Second, we estimate lending markups and deposits markdowns in each country over time....

Die zunehmende Konzentration der Arzneimittelherstellung und -entwicklung in China und Indien ist eine ernsthafte Herausforderung für die Versorgungssicherheit und technologische Souveränität Europas. In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten ist die Wirkstoffproduktion immer mehr in Richtung Fernost...

Given the changing landscape of fuel retailing, this study explores the impact of spatial competition and market concentration on diesel prices in Germany. The question of how population density and gas station density, i.e. the equilibrium pattern of locations of firms, are related is examined....

Policymakers face a dilemma in determining the optimal approach to regulating highly concentrated markets, especially in the context of digital government initiatives in healthcare. The current study investigates whether vendor market concentration facilitates or impedes efficiency in health...

Economic super-powers are racing to control critical minerals in developing economies fueling conflict, environmental damage and poverty. In this paper, we first explore what could well constitute a new "critical minerals curse". We then highlight the dualism of institutions required for...

This paper studies the relationship between market concentration and aggregate productivity when firmlevel demand emerges from past marketing investments. Granular firms may invest in demand both to complement their productivity and to amplify market power-this second force can create persistent...

This paper studies concentration and market power in Chile and Colombia and the role that globalization and automation have had in shaping these two phenomena. Using panels of firm surveys, we compute firm-level markups and industry-level concentration measures. Applying a difference in...

The present paper utilizes AnaCredit loan-level data to examine the impact of regional loan market structure on lending rates. The analysis focuses on newly issued loans to small non-financial corporations in the euro area during the monetary policy tightening phase of 2022 and 2023. The...

We quantify changes in concentration, market power and welfare in the UK grocery retail sector from 2002 to 2021. We document that an expansion of discounter-format retailers coincided with declining retail and manufacturer concentration across most narrowly defined product categories. We...

This study investigates the nonlinear interplay between bank stability, financial inclusion, deposit insurance design, and banking concentration, utilizing unbalanced panel data from 122 countries between 2004 and 2021. By constructing novel indices-including a composite Moralhazard index to...