Description du projet
Garder le contrôle sur le pouvoir de marché
Certaines entreprises sont en mesure de relever le prix de marché de leurs produits ou services de manière très profitable, sans perdre un seul client au profit de leurs concurrents. En économie, cela s’appelle le «pouvoir de marché». Le projet MARKET POWER, financé par l’UE, évaluera les causes et les conséquences macroéconomiques de ce phénomène. Il étudiera le dynamisme du marché du travail, le recul des nouvelles start-ups et la stagnation des salaires de la main d’œuvre peu qualifiée dans la perspective d’une récente augmentation du pouvoir de marché. Le projet fera la distinction entre les causes qui résultent intrinsèquement de la structure du marché (application de règles antitrust et fusions) et celles qui découlent du changement technologique, telles que les actifs incorporels et les externalités de réseau. Les conclusions permettront de mieux comprendre la marche à suivre pour garder le contrôle sur le pouvoir de marché afin de remédier à ses conséquences macroéconomiques.
Objectif
In the last four decades, there have been a number of significant secular trends in the advanced economies around the world. Wage inequality has risen sharply, and most of the wage gains have been appropriated by the top 1%. In addition, labor market dynamism and new startups have declined, the labor share of total output has fallen, low skilled wages have stagnated, and there has been reallocation of production from small to superstar firms. During the same four decades, there has also been a sharp secular increase in market power. Firms set higher prices, profit rates are higher, and scale economies are up.
In this proposal, I address the question whether these secular trends are related. Specifically, I ask whether the rise of market power has caused these profound macroeconomic changes. The objective is to uncover economic mechanisms that help understand this fundamental transformation and the implications for efficiency and welfare.
I propose to investigate both the causes of the rise in market power and its macroeconomic consequences. I distinguish between causes that stem inherently from the market structure (such as antitrust enforcement and Mergers & Acquisitions) and those that result from technological change (economies of scale, intangible assets, and network externalities). Methodologically, this research proposal aims to contribute to the literature on three fronts: 1. the measurement of markups, 2. to derive theoretical results linking market power and macroeconomic consequences, 3. to estimate and quantitatively evaluate these models. The close link between the macroeconomic consequences and the causes of market power renders this a research proposal at the intersection of macro/labor, industrial organization and law & economics. The objective is to inform the policy debate: how to keep market power under control in order to remediate its macroeconomic consequences that were hitherto considered independent.
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ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
08002 Barcelona
Espagne