Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share

David Autor, David Dorn, Lawrence Katz, Christina Patterson and John van Reenen

American Economic Review, 2017, vol. 107, issue 5, 180-85

Abstract: The recent fall of labor's share of GDP in numerous countries is well-documented, but its causes are poorly understood. We sketch a "superstar firm" model where industries are increasingly characterized by "winner take most" competition, leading a small number of highly profitable (and low labor share) firms to command growing market share. Building on Autor et al. (2017), we evaluate and confirm two core claims of the superstar firm hypothesis: the concentration of sales among firms within industries has risen across much of the private sector; and industries with larger increases in concentration exhibit a larger decline in labor's share.

JEL-codes: D22 D33 E23 E25 L13 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171102
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (237)

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Working Paper: Concentrating on the fall of the labor share (2017)
Working Paper: Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share (2017)
Working Paper: Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share (2017)
Working Paper: Concentrating on the fall of the labor share (2017)
Working Paper: Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share (2017)
Working Paper: Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share (2017)
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