Report
Cost-Price Relationships in a Concentrated Economy
Bräuning, Falk; Fillat, José; Joaquim, Gustavo (2022-05-23)
The US economy is at least 50 percent more concentrated today than it was in 2005. In this paper, we estimate the effect of this increase on the pass-through of cost shocks into prices. Our estimates imply that the pass-through becomes about 25 percentage points greater when there is an increase in concentration similar to the one observed since the beginning of this century. The resulting above-trend price growth lasts for about four quarters. Our findings suggest that the increase in industry concentration over the past two decades could be amplifying the inflationary pressure from current ...
Current Policy Perspectives

Working Paper
Cost-Price Relationships in a Concentrated Economy
Bräuning, Falk; Fillat, José; Joaquim, Gustavo (2023-04-01)
We use local projections with granular instrumental variables to estimate the aggregate pass-through of costs into prices and how it is affected by industry concentration. On average, we find, prices increase above trend growth for three quarters after an exogenous cost shock, and the price increase is accompanied by a decline in output. The estimated pass-through of the shock into prices one quarter ahead is 0.7. The price response to shocks becomes about 27 percent larger when there is an increase in concentration similar to the one observed over the last 20 years. This differential effect ...
Working Papers , Paper 23-9

Journal Article
Are Markets Too Concentrated?
Sablik, Timothy (2018-01)
Industries are increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer firms. But is that a bad thing?
Econ Focus , Issue 1Q , Pages 10-13