Converging to mediocrity: Trends in firm-level markups in the United Kingdom 2008–2019
UK manufacturing productivity has declined sharply since 2008, yet little is known about the role of trends in firm-level markups in this context. We estimate firm-level markups using a structural demand approach with revenue shares and industry elasticities, which is complemented by a primal method. Findings indicate a decline in aggregate markups of two to five per cent from 2008 to 2019, driven mainly by within-firm declines. These results suggest that the UK’s productivity slowdown reflects structural deterioration within manufacturing firms rather than reallocation effects.
Institutions
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- SKEMA Business School (FR)
- Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- London School of Business and Management (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Economics Letters
- Published
- 2026-02-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112851
- Primary Topic
- Firm Innovation and Growth
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00