Data and Code For: The Modern Wholesaler: Global Sourcing, Domestic Distribution, and Scale Economies

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Sharat Ganapati

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Project Description

Summary: Data and code for following abstract:

Nearly half of all transactions in the $5 trillion market for manufactured goods in the United States were intermediated by wholesalers in 2012, up from 32 percent in 1992. Seventy percent of this increase is due to the growth of “superstar” firms - the largest one percent of wholesalers. Estimates based on detailed administrative data show that the rise of the largest firms was driven by an intuitive linkage between their sourcing of goods from abroad and an expansion of their domestic distribution network to reach more buyers. Both elements require scale economies and lead to increased wholesaler market shares and markups. Counterfactual analysis shows that despite increases in wholesaler market power and markups, scale has benefits. Buyers gain access to globally sourced varieties, nationwide distribution networks, and increased quality while wholesalers decrease their marginal costs.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: market power; intermediation; markups; wholesale industry; wholesale; geographic distribution; imports; business sourcing; scale; returns to scale

JEL Classification:
      D43 Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
      F14 Empirical Studies of Trade
      L13 Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
      L81 Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
      R12 Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity

Geographic Coverage: United States

Universe: All wholesale trade establishments - United States

Data Type(s): administrative records data; aggregate data; census/enumeration data; survey data

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-01-07]

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