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The Impact of Superstar Firms on the Labor Share: Evidence from Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Filip Abraham

    (KU Leuven and Vlerick Business School)

  • Yannick Bormans

    (KU Leuven)

Abstract

The Belgian labor share, measured as the part of GDP going to labor, is declining. This fits into the global secular trend of decreasing labor shares. A novel strand in the literature focusses on its granular drivers. Recent research in the United States suggests that superstar firms, defined as large firms with a dominant market share, are increasing their market share and relate this to the fall of the labor share (Autor et al. in Q J Econ 135(2):645–709, 2020). Using a long time series of Belgian firm-level data from 1985 to 2014, we provide evidence for the link between the rise of market concentration and the decrease of the labor share in its two largest sectors: Manufacturing and Wholesale & Retail. These two sectors represent approximately half of the Belgian economy. We do not find evidence in other Belgian sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Filip Abraham & Yannick Bormans, 2020. "The Impact of Superstar Firms on the Labor Share: Evidence from Belgium," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 369-402, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:168:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10645-020-09365-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-020-09365-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Alpysbayeva, Dinara & Vanormelingen, Stijn, 2022. "Labor market rigidities and misallocation: Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Yannick Bormans & Angelos Theodorakopoulos, 2023. "Productivity dispersion, wage dispersion and superstar firms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(360), pages 1145-1172, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor share; Superstar firms; Market concentration; Firm-level data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F66 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Labor

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