Mark-ups in the digital era

This paper examines the evolution of firm mark-ups across 26 countries for the period 2001-14. It also discusses and investigates empirically how this can be related to the degree of digital transformation in sectors. Four main facts emerge: i) mark-ups are increasing over the period, on average across country; ii) this result is driven by firms at the top of the mark-up distribution, while the bottom half of the distribution exhibits a flat trend over time; (iii) mark-ups are higher in digital-intensive sectors than in less-digitally intensive sectors; (iv) mark-up differentials between digitally-intensive and less-digitally-intensive sectors have increased significantly over time.