How Competitive is the US Manufacturing Sector?

This paper assesses the market structure of the US manufacturing sector using a corrected four-firm concentration ratio. The correction is done to the published 1997 CR, using the North American Industry Classification System, and addresses four areas: overaggregation, underaggregation, market locality, and international trade. The paper finds the US manufacturing sector to be fairly competitive with 58.0 percent of its industries operate in competitive markets, 17.5 percent operate in loose oligopoly, 24.5 percent operate in tight oligopoly, and none operates in monopoly markets. Equally important, this research finds international trade to have an important impact on the level of competition in the manufacturing sector. Eastern Economic Journal (2009) 35, 52–70. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eej.9050043