内容摘要 在这本备受期待的书中,一位著名经济学家认为,美国经济的许多关键问题不是由于资本主义的缺陷或全球化的必然性,而是由于企业权力的集中。通过反竞争的游说,大公司提高了利润,同时压低了工资,限制了投资、创新和增长的机会。 为什么美国的手机套餐比欧洲贵这么多?这似乎是一个简单的问题。但寻找答案的过程让托马斯?菲利蓬踏上了一段出人意料的旅程,深入探讨了现代经济学中一些复杂而激烈的争论问题。最终,他得出了令人惊讶的结论:美国市场,这个曾经的世界模范,正在放弃健康的竞争。一个又一个经济部门比20年前更加集中,由数量更少、规模更大的参与者主导,他们积极游说政界人士,以保护和扩大自己的利润率。在全国范围内,这推高了物价,同时压低了投资、生产率、增长和工资,导致更大的不平等。与此同时,由于竞争僵化和反托拉斯不力而被长期忽视的欧洲正在自己的游戏中击败美国。 In this much-anticipated book, a leading economist argues that many key problems of the American economy are due not to the flaws of capitalism or the inevitabilities of globalization but to the concentration of corporate power. By lobbying against competition, the biggest firms drive profits higher while depressing wages and limiting opportunities for investment, innovation, and growth. Why are cell-phone plans so much more expensive in the United States than in Europe? It seems a simple question. But the search for an answer took Thomas Philippon on an unexpected journey through some of the most complex and hotly debated issues in modern economics. Ultimately he reached his surprising conclusion: American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on healthy competition. Sector after economic sector is more concentrated than it was twenty years ago, dominated by fewer and bigger players who lobby politicians aggressively to protect and expand their profit margins. Across the country, this drives up prices while driving down investment, productivity, growth, and wages, resulting in more inequality. Meanwhile, Europe-long dismissed for competitive sclerosis and weak antitrust-is beating America at its own game. Philippon, one of the world's leading economists, did not expect these conclusions in the age of Silicon Valley start-ups and millennial millionaires. But the data from his cutting-edge research proved undeniable. In this compelling tale of economic detective work, we follow him as he works out the basic facts and consequences of industry concentration in the U.S. and Europe, shows how lobbying and campaign contributions have defanged antitrust regulators, and considers what all this means for free trade, technology, and innovation. For the sake of ordinary Americans, he concludes, government needs to return to what it once did best: keeping the playing field level for competition. It's time to make American markets great-and free-again.
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