Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments December 10, 2021 erstellt
Description:
This paper investigates market concentration in the US retail sector. We use store and household-level consumption micro-data from 2004-2019 to document four facts linked by a decomposition: 1) rising national concentration, 2) negligible change in regional concentration, 3) rising household concentration and heterogeneity across households, and 4) increased one-stop shopping. On the supply side, we find that increasing local availability of superstar retailers, rises in product variety, and changes in pricing explain a portion of these trends. On the demand side, we find that increases in households’ opportunity cost of time are also key drivers. We discuss models that can rationalize these results to highlight the implications for market power and welfare