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Event

Economic Census top-four shares of sales, 1997 to 2017

Federal Reserve staff tabulated how the top four firms’ share of sales changed by sector between the 1997 and 2017 Economic Censuses; a policy group’s unweighted count of the 2002 to 2017 change is 1 point.

3 links, 2 backed by primary records

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Dates
1997–2017

All of these are national figures for narrow industries, not local ones. The two counts differ in how industries are averaged and in years.

Connections 3

involved

  • U.S. Census Bureau its Economic Censuses are the source of the figures Primary record 1
  • Federal Reserve its staff note: the mean rose in 13 of 15 sectors, from -5.4 (health care) to +18.9 (retail trade); accommodation and food +0.4 mean, -5.5 median Primary record 1
  • U.S. Census Bureau the same census, read by a policy group (ITIF) as showing a 1-point average rise, 2002 to 2017 Scholarship & press 2
Timeline 1 date
  1. 1997–2017 Economic Census top-four shares of sales, 1997 to 2017
Proof 2 sources
  1. A note on industry concentration measurement (accessible data), FEDS Notes, Federal Reserve, 3 Feb 2023. Primary record
    Source: 1997 and 2017 Economic Censuses.
    Change in sales-weighted mean/median of 6-digit industries, 1997-2017. Concentration is measured as the share of sales accounted for by the top 4 firms.
  2. Industry Concentration: Is It Rising Overall?, Conversable Economist, 21 Jun 2021. Scholarship & press
    Overall, Census data show U.S. industries have not become more concentrated: The average C4 ratio (the share of sales that the top four firms capture in an industry) increased just 1 percentage point from 2002 to 2017.
Page history 2 changes
  1. Second revision of Too Big to Fail: the FTC's 1917 finding, the 1952 report's seven firms, the 1984 hearing record, and corrected cards for Spirit, beef, tickets, Google and the final verdictAlibek05663c47
  2. Revise Too Big to Fail after the skeptic's review: read to 2 November 2026, a verdict card that separates findings from shares, the 1929 fight with its scandal and the board's stand, and sources for every cardAlibekc819f2cb

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