, Columnist
What If Companies Get Big Because They're Better?
New research suggests that industry concentration just reflects the superior productivity of superstar firms. Are you listening, trust-busters?
Too big for their britches?
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Fewer U.S. companies are controlling more market share as industrial concentration has settled over the U.S. economy during the past two decades. That trend has provoked fierce debates among economists and politicians over whether the government should do more to break up big companies, especially the dominant technology giants.
But what if industries are concentrating because size confers real benefits to the economy rather than because of lax antitrust enforcement?