Product Market Concentration and Productivity in the UK

Collaboration with: Anthony Savagar, Oluwaseun Aguda & Kyung In Hwang

Abstract

We measure product market concentration and firm entry in the UK from 1997 to 2018. We document this with administrative data on the population of UK firms from the Business Structure Database (BSD). Our results show that concentration in the UK is flat, and that business dynamism, measured by firm entry and exit, is also flat. We find similar results at the sector level. Lastly, we document a negative correlation between concentration and productivity.