Data and Code for: 100 Years of Rising Corporate Concentration

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Spencer Kwon, Brown University; Yueran Ma, University of Chicago. Booth School of Business; Kaspar Zimmermann, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
other			06/02/2024 10:06:AM
soi			06/02/2024 10:08:AM
temp			06/02/2024 09:29:AM

Project Description

Summary:

We collect data on the size distribution of U.S. 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 U.S. economy for a long period of time.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      E01 Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
      E23 Macroeconomics: Production
      L11 Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
      L25 Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope
      N12 Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: U.S.; Canada: 1913-

Geographic Coverage: US

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Published Versions

V1 [2024-06-12]

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Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

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