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Market Concentration and Aggregate Productivity: The Role of Demand

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Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between market concentration and aggregate productivity when firm-level 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 mismatch between customer capital and productivity. The importance of this mismatch depends on the relative persistence of productivity and demand. Empirically, we find that demand is more persistent than productivity, implying a sizable role for mismatch. This leads to sluggish demand-side adjustment in the face of productivity shocks in the quantified model. Policies targeting static markup distortions—such as production subsidies—can exacerbate excessive marketing and thus are subject to a tradeoff between static gains and dynamic losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Pearce & Liangjie Wu, 2025. "Market Concentration and Aggregate Productivity: The Role of Demand," Staff Reports 1159, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:101336
    DOI: 10.59576/sr.1159
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Jan De Loecker & Jan Eeckhout & Gabriel Unger, 2020. "The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications [“Econometric Tools for Analyzing Market Outcomes”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 561-644.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cagin Keskin, 2026. "Firm Scope and Innovation: The Role of Intangibles," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp811, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    2. Joachim Hubmer & Lukas Nord, 2026. "Investment in Demand and Dynamic Competition for Customers," PIER Working Paper Archive 26-006, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.

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    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

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