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Case closed? Not so fast. Those who doubt that competition has weakened attribute such findings to the rise of "superstar" firms.
結案了？沒那么快。那些懷疑競爭被削弱的人將這些發現歸因于“超級明星”公司的增長。
They argue that economic activity is becoming concentrated in the best firms because of technology, network effects and globalisation.
他們認為由于科技、網絡影響和全球化，最佳公司中的經濟活動變得越來越集中。
This "winnertakes-most" pattern could explain rising average markups, if pricey but brilliant products are capturing more market share,
如果價高但出色的產品獲得了更多的市場份額，
or if superstar firms are unusually reliant on spending on intangible assets that is not included as a cost in gross margins.
或是超級明星公司異常依賴于無法算入毛利成本的無形資產，那么這種“贏家通吃”的模式可以解釋上漲的平均利潤。
Given the growing importance of intellectual property and brand value to obvious superstars such as Apple and Google, this objection is worth taking seriously.
考慮到知識產權和品牌價值對超級明星公司，如蘋果和谷歌不斷增長的重要性，這一異議值得認真對待。
The IMF study confirms that in most places a small share of firms are responsible for rising markups,
IMF研究證明，在大部分地方，公司的小份額能夠影響利潤的上漲，
which have soared among the best and are flat among the rest.
利潤可以增長至名列前茅且與剩下的持平。
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%的高利潤公司比同類公司利潤高50%，且生產能力高30%，也更加依賴于無形資產。
The fund did not find that rising markups slowed innovation, at least using the (admittedly dubious) proxy of patent registrations.
IMF并沒有發現增長的利潤拖慢了創新，它們至少使用了（無可否認）專利注冊的代理權。
Yet market power that grows organically is still market power.
然而有組織性地增長的市場支配力仍然是市場支配力。
The fund found evidence of some of the pernicious consequences of less competition.
IMF發現了一些低競爭力惡性后果的證據。
Higher markups are associated with less investment in physical capital—
其預計高利潤和有形資本投資下降有關—
enough to have lopped a percentage point off GDP in the average advanced economy, it estimates.
這足以將平均發達經濟體的GDP削減一個百分點。
Top firms with higher markups pay a smaller share of the economic value they create to workers.
高利潤的頂尖公司向員工們支付的經濟價值份額更少。
And the fund warns that market power could yet put a brake on innovation, should incumbent firms get too cosy.
并且IMF警告稱市場支配力會削弱創新，在位企業是否應該太過安逸。
That might happen if regulators are slow to respond to structural shifts in the economy,
如果監管者對經濟中的結構變化反應遲鈍，
or too lax in policing mergers that allow incumbents to pick off potential competitors.
或者對在位公司除掉潛在競爭者的合并監管中太過松懈，那么這是有可能發生的。
The fund found that mergers and acquisitions were, on average, followed by significantly higher markups by the firms involved.
IMF發現平均來看，公司利潤顯著增加后，合并和收購會緊跟其后。
Economists are sometimes accused of having "physics envy"— that is, of coveting the precision of the hard sciences.
有時經濟學家被指責“物理嫉妒”—即垂涎硬科學的精密度。
But if economics has a law worthy of the name, it is that firms prefer to merge than to compete.
但是如果經濟學家擁有一條名副其實的法律，那么公司更愿意合并而非競爭。
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