Intangibles and Industry Concentration: A Cross‐Country Analysis

ABSTRACT This paper presents new evidence on the growing scale of large businesses in the United States, Japan and 11 European countries. It documents a broad increase in industry concentration across the majority of countries and sectors over the period 2002–2017. The rising concentration is strongly linked to investment in intangibles—particularly innovative assets; and software and data—and this relationship is magnified in more globalised industries. The results are consistent with intangibles disproportionately benefiting large firms, enabling them to scale up and increase their market shares by leveraging intangibles across multiple markets.