Trends in the market concentration of Australian industries

This study investigates changes that took place in the market concentration of Australia industries from 2002 to 2016. It also tries to characterise industries where market concentration have been increasing and whether the increase implies a drop in competition.

Key findings:

• Market concentration is increasing, but mostly among industries that are already concentrated.
• Export-intensive industries are one group where market concentration is increasing fast.
• If export intensive industries are digitally mature or have a number of outperforming firms, their concentration is increasing faster.
• Labour productivity is also increasing in export-intensive industries, suggesting that the increasing market concentration is not caused by a fall in competition.

Author: Sasan Bakhtiari.

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