经济学人下载:市场支配力 (2)

Case closed? Not so fast. Those who doubt that competition has weakened attribute such findings to the rise of "superstar" firms.
结案了？没那么快。那些怀疑竞争被削弱的人将这些发现归因于“超级明星”公司的增长。

They argue that economic activity is becoming concentrated in the best firms because of technology, network effects and globalisation.
他们认为由于科技、网络影响和全球化，最佳公司中的经济活动变得越来越集中。

This "winnertakes-most" pattern could explain rising average markups, if pricey but brilliant products are capturing more market share,
如果价高但出色的产品获得了更多的市场份额，

or if superstar firms are unusually reliant on spending on intangible assets that is not included as a cost in gross margins.
或是超级明星公司异常依赖于无法算入毛利成本的无形资产，那么这种“赢家通吃”的模式可以解释上涨的平均利润。

Given the growing importance of intellectual property and brand value to obvious superstars such as Apple and Google, this objection is worth taking seriously.
考虑到知识产权和品牌价值对超级明星公司，如苹果和谷歌不断增长的重要性，这一异议值得认真对待。

The IMF study confirms that in most places a small share of firms are responsible for rising markups,
IMF研究证明，在大部分地方，公司的小份额能够影响利润的上涨，

which have soared among the best and are flat among the rest.
利润可以增长至名列前茅且与剩下的持平。

The 10% of firms with the highest markups are 50% more profitable than their peers, more than 30% more productive and rely more on intangibles.
10%的高利润公司比同类公司利润高50%，且生产能力高30%，也更加依赖于无形资产。

The fund did not find that rising markups slowed innovation, at least using the (admittedly dubious) proxy of patent registrations.
IMF并没有发现增长的利润拖慢了创新，它们至少使用了（无可否认）专利注册的代理权。

Yet market power that grows organically is still market power.
然而有组织性地增长的市场支配力仍然是市场支配力。

The fund found evidence of some of the pernicious consequences of less competition.
IMF发现了一些低竞争力恶性后果的证据。

Higher markups are associated with less investment in physical capital—
其预计高利润和有形资本投资下降有关—

enough to have lopped a percentage point off GDP in the average advanced economy, it estimates.
这足以将平均发达经济体的GDP削减一个百分点。

Top firms with higher markups pay a smaller share of the economic value they create to workers.
高利润的顶尖公司向员工们支付的经济价值份额更少。

And the fund warns that market power could yet put a brake on innovation, should incumbent firms get too cosy.
并且IMF警告称市场支配力会削弱创新，在位企业是否应该太过安逸。

That might happen if regulators are slow to respond to structural shifts in the economy,
如果监管者对经济中的结构变化反应迟钝，

or too lax in policing mergers that allow incumbents to pick off potential competitors.
或者对在位公司除掉潜在竞争者的合并监管中太过松懈，那么这是有可能发生的。

The fund found that mergers and acquisitions were, on average, followed by significantly higher markups by the firms involved.
IMF发现平均来看，公司利润显著增加后，合并和收购会紧跟其后。

Economists are sometimes accused of having "physics envy"— that is, of coveting the precision of the hard sciences.
有时经济学家被指责“物理嫉妒”—即垂涎硬科学的精密度。

But if economics has a law worthy of the name, it is that firms prefer to merge than to compete.
但是如果经济学家拥有一条名副其实的法律，那么公司更愿意合并而非竞争。