Market power, output, and productivity

Abstract

I document a positive correlation between increases in markups and growth of output, value added, and labor productivity at the 3-digit sector level using national accounts data from Mexico. Additionally, I show that those results can be partly accounted for by the positive correlation between increases in markups and total factor productivity growth. Taken together, the findings provide new evidence that a rise of market power can be associated with positive welfare effects and not only with negative outcomes of reduced competition.