IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/117914.html

Uncertainty and Market Power: An Empirical Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Kazakis, Pantelis

Abstract

Recent academic research documents a sharp increase in global market power. Using newly created and more precise data on aggregate market power (see De Loecker and Eeckhout, 2021), we add to the literature on the determinants of market power by investigating whether and how uncertainty may have played a role in its increase. Using a global sample of the world’s major economies, we find that uncertainty is associated with more market power. In addition, we find that higher levels of democracy and a better functioning political system, are negatively associated with market power.

Suggested Citation

  • Kazakis, Pantelis, 2023. "Uncertainty and Market Power: An Empirical Investigation," MPRA Paper 117914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:117914
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/117914/1/KK_uncertainty_market_power.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saten Kumar & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Olivier Coibion, 2023. "The Effect of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Firm Decisions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(4), pages 1297-1332, July.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    3. Ahir, Hites & Bloom, Nicholas & Furceri, Davide, 2022. "The world uncertainty index," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117833, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Chad Syverson, 2019. "Macroeconomics and Market Power: Context, Implications, and Open Questions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 23-43, Summer.
    5. Dixit, Avinash K, 1989. "Entry and Exit Decisions under Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 620-638, June.
    6. Dennis W. Carlton & James D. Dana, 2008. "Product Variety And Demand Uncertainty: Why Markups Vary With Quality," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 535-552, September.
    7. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    8. Jan De Loecker & Frederic Warzynski, 2012. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2437-2471, October.
    9. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ensar Yılmaz & Zeynep Kaplan, 2022. "Heterogeneity of market power: firm-level evidence," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 1207-1228, May.
    2. Miller, Nathan H., 2025. "Industrial organization and The Rise of Market Power," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6q707l4svn8k3bt630nhgdqgdu is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Thomas Hasenzagl & Luis Perez, 2023. "The Micro-Aggregated Profit Share," Papers 2309.12945, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    5. Chiara Bellucci & Armando Rungi, 2024. "Procompetitive effects of vertical takeovers. Evidence from the European Union," Papers 2411.12412, arXiv.org, revised May 2025.
    6. Maarten De Ridder, 2024. "Market Power and Innovation in the Intangible Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(1), pages 199-251, January.
    7. Stiebale, Joel & Suedekum, Jens & Woessner, Nicole, 2024. "Robots and the rise of European superstar firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Vanessa Alviarez & Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2025. "Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 389-434, February.
    9. Isaac Baley & Andrés Blanco, 2021. "Aggregate Dynamics in Lumpy Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 1235-1264, May.
    10. Kraft, Kornelius & Lammers, Alexander, 2021. "Bargaining Power and the Labor Share - a Structural Break Approach," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242342, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Philipp Meinen & Ana Cristina Soares, 2022. "Markups and Financial Shocks," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(647), pages 2471-2499.
    12. Panon, Ludovic, 2022. "Labor share, foreign demand and superstar exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    13. Emanuela Ciapanna & Sara Formai & Andrea Linarello & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2024. "Measuring market power: macro- and micro-evidence from Italy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(6), pages 2677-2717, December.
    14. Wang, Yunfei & Li, Jinke & O'Leary, Nigel & Shao, Jing, 2024. "Banding: A game changer in the Renewables Obligation scheme in the United Kingdom," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    15. Eero Mäkynen & Oskari Vähämaa, 2021. "Uncertainty, Misallocation and the Life-cycle Growth of Firms," Discussion Papers 146, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    16. Mydland, Ørjan & Størdal, Ståle & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Lien, Gudbrand, 2022. "Modeling markups and its determinants: The case of Norwegian industries and regions," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 252-262.
    17. Bellocchi, Alessandro & Travaglini, Giuseppe, 2023. "Can variable elasticity of substitution explain changes in labor shares?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Ian Goldin & Pantelis Koutroumpis & François Lafond & Julian Winkler, 2024. "Why Is Productivity Slowing Down?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 196-268, March.
    19. Ugur, Mehmet, 2024. "Innovation, market power and the labour share: Evidence from OECD industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    20. Martinez Cillero Maria & Napolitano Lorenzo & Rentocchini Francesco & Seri Cecilia & Zaurino Elena, 2025. "M&As, Innovation and Superstar Firms," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2025-03, Joint Research Centre.
    21. De Loecker, Jan, 2021. "Comment on (Un)pleasant ... by Bond et al (2020)," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 15-18.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:117914. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.