American Economics Association

About the AEA Committees Honors & Awards For Graduate Students For Undergrad Students News & Notes Officers General Information Minutes UA Questionnaire Continuing Education Directory of Members Call for Papers Media

AEJ: Applied Economics AEJ: Economic Policy AEJ: Macroeconomics AEJ: Microeconomics American Economic Review Journal of Economic Literature Journal of Economic Perspectives eTOCs Virtual Field Journals Institutional Subscriptions AEA Journals on JSTOR Ads in Journals Back Issues Order Forms Copyright & Permissions

Submissions Registration/Housing Preliminary Program Annual Meeting Papers Annual Meeting Webcasts Disclosure Code Information Exhibitors Exhibitors & Advertisers Forms Special Events Form Continuing Education Econ-Harmony

EconLit Desktop Link EconLit for Members JEL Codes Guide JEL Classifications Journal List Contacts/Corrections Upcoming Exhibits Document Types Search Hints

JOE Listings Submit a JOE Listing Job Market Signaling Job Market Scramble Resources For Economists RFE Abridged Contents RFE Search RFE Conferences Econ Search Engine

Member Login Become a Member Directory of Members EconLit for Members AEA Journals on JSTOR Econ-Harmony Annual Meeting Webcasts Browse JEL Indexes Virtual Field Journals Institutional Subscriptions

Journal of Economic Perspectives

Search:

AEA Member Login:

Quick Tools:

View Full Text of This Article

Email Link to this Article Export Citation

Sign up for Email Alerts

Follow us on Twitter

Post a Comment on this Article (AEA Members Only)

View Comments on this Article

Article Abstract and Tools

Subscription Information
(Institutional Administrator Access)

Explore:

JEP - Previous Issues
JEP - Fall 2002

JEL Indexes (Members Only)

Journal of Economic Perspectives

Vol. 16, No. 4, Fall 2002

Trends in Aggregate Concentration in the United States Lawrence J. White
Article Citation
White, Lawrence J. 2002. "Trends in Aggregate Concentration in the United States ." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(4): 137–160.
DOI:10.1257/089533002320951019
Abstract
I assemble two rarely used data sets to measure aggregate concentration in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s. Despite the merger waves of those decades, aggregate concentration declined in the 1980s and the early 1990s, but rose modestly in the late 1990s. The levels at the end of the decade were at or below the levels of the late 1980s or early 1990s. The average size of firm and the relative importance of larger size classes of firms increased, however. Gini coefficients for employment and payroll shares of companies showed moderate but steady increases from 1988 through 1999.

Article Full-Text Access

Full-Text Article (Complimentary)

JEP Discussion Forum

View Comments on This Article (0) | Post A Comment on This Article (AEA Members)

Authors

White, Lawrence J.

© 2012 AEA. The American Economic Association is hosted by Vanderbilt University.