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European Firm Concentration and Aggregate Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Tommaso Bighelli
  • Filippo di Mauro
  • Marc J Melitz
  • Matthias Mertens

Abstract

This paper derives a European Herfindahl–Hirschman concentration index from 15 micro-aggregated country datasets. In the last decade, European concentration rose due to a reallocation of economic activity toward large and concentrated industries. Over the same period, productivity gains from an increasing allocative efficiency of the European market accounted for 50% of European productivity growth while markups stayed constant. Using country-industry variation, we show that changes in concentration are positively associated with changes in productivity and allocative efficiency. This holds across most sectors and countries and supports the notion that rising concentration in Europe reflects a more efficient market environment rather than weak competition and rising market power.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommaso Bighelli & Filippo di Mauro & Marc J Melitz & Matthias Mertens, 2023. "European Firm Concentration and Aggregate Productivity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 455-483.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:21:y:2023:i:2:p:455-483.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvac040
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    Cited by:

    1. Guido Matias Cortes & Jeanne Tschopp, 2024. "Rising concentration and wage inequality," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 126(2), pages 320-354, April.
    2. Ziran Ding & Jose Garcia‐Louzao & Valentin Jouvanceau, 2025. "The dynamics of product and labour market power: Evidence from Lithuania," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 165-194, January.
    3. Mertens, Matthias, 2023. "Labor Market Power and Between-Firm Wage (In)Equality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Emilio Colombo & Luca Michele Portoghese & Patrizio Tirelli, 2025. "Broadband Access and Markups in Europe," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2505, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    5. Francesco Devicienti & Elena Grinza & Alessandro Manello & Davide Vannoni, 2025. "Employer cooperation, productivity and wages: new evidence from inter‐firm formal network agreements," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(365), pages 1-41, January.
    6. Emilio Colombo & Alberto Marcato, 2021. "Skill Demand and Labour Market Concentration: Theory and Evidence from Italian Vacancies," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2104, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    7. Calligaris, Sara & Chaves, Miguel & Criscuolo, Chiara & De Lyon, Joshua & Greppi, Andrea & Pallanch, Oliviero, 2024. "Industry concentration in Europe: Trends and methodological insights," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126768, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Bighelli, Tommaso & Lalinsky, Tibor & Vanhala, Juuso, 2023. "Cross-country evidence on the allocation of COVID-19 government subsidies and consequences for productivity," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Camilli, Andrea & Catalano, Michele & Colacurcio, Claudio & Dierx, Adriaan & Ilzkovitz, Fabienne, 2025. "Revitalising EU growth: The power of competitive markets," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 1056-1075.
    10. Anthony Savagar & Oluwaseun Aguda & Yannis Galanakis & Jingwei Wu, 2024. "Market concentration and productivity: evidence from the UK," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 459-482, December.
    11. Çürük, Malik & Rozendaal, Rik, 2022. "Labor Share, Industry Concentration and Energy Prices : Evidence from Europe," Other publications TiSEM b97efaae-4632-41e1-9836-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Chiara Bellucci & Armando Rungi, 2024. "Procompetitive effects of vertical takeovers. Evidence from the European Union," Papers 2411.12412, arXiv.org, revised May 2025.
    13. Mertens, Matthias & Mottironi, Bernardo, 2025. "Do larger firms exert more market power? Markups and markdowns along the size distribution," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128958, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Matthias Mertens & Bernardo Mottironi, 2023. "Do larger firms exert more market power? Markups and markdowns along the size distribution," CEP Discussion Papers dp1945, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Alfaro, Martin & Warzynski, Frederic, 2021. "Trade liberalization with granular firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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