https://www.nber.org/papers/w31597 Skip to main content * Subscribe * Media * Open Calls Close Search [ ] * Research EXPLORE Research + Findings o Working Papers o Books & Chapters o Lectures o Research Spotlights + Periodicals o The Digest o The Reporter o The Bulletin on Retirement and Disability o The Bulletin on Health o The Bulletin on Entrepreneurship o Periodicals Archive + Data & Business Cycles o Boston Research Data Center o Business Cycle Dating o Public Use Data Archive + All Topics o COVID-19 o Unemployment and Immigration o Energy o Entrepreneurship o Trade * Programs & Projects EXPLORE Programs & Projects + Programs o Economics of Aging o Asset Pricing o Children o Corporate Finance o Development Economics o Development of the American Economy o Economic Fluctuations and Growth o Economics of Education o Economics of Health o Environment and Energy Economics o Industrial Organization o International Finance and Macroeconomics o International Trade and Investment o Labor Studies o Law and Economics o Monetary Economics o Political Economy o Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship o Public Economics + Working Groups o Behavioral Finance o Chinese Economy o Cohort Studies o Economics of Crime o Entrepreneurship o Gender in the Economy o Household Finance o Innovation Policy o Insurance o Market Design o Organizational Economics o Personnel Economics o Race and Stratification in the Economy o Urban Economics + All Projects & Centers o Boosting Grant Applications from Faculty at MSIs o Center for Aging and Health Research o Conference on Research in Income and Wealth o Early Indicators of Later Work Levels, Disease and Death o Economics of Digitization o Gender in the Economy o Improving Health Outcomes for an Aging Population o Macroeconomics Annual o Measuring the Clinical and Economic Outcomes Associated with Delivery Systems o Oregon Health Insurance Experiment o Retirement and Disability Research Center o The Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health o Science of Science Funding o Training Program in Aging and Health Economics o Transportation Economics in the 21st Century * Conferences * Affiliated Scholars * NBER News EXPLORE NBER News + Research in the News + Nobel Laureates + Featured Working Papers Archive * Career Resources EXPLORE Career Resources + RA Positions - at NBER + RA Positions - not at the NBER + Staff Positions at NBER + Calls for Fellowship Applications + Current Fellowship Recipients + PhD Candidates in Economics * About EXPLORE About + Leadership & Governance + Support & Funding + History + Standards of Conduct + Privacy Policy + Diversity Policy + Accessibility Policy + Staff * Subscribe * Media * Open Calls Search [ ] * Home * Research * Working Papers * Antitrust Enforcement Increases... Antitrust Enforcement Increases Economic Activity Tania Babina, Simcha Barkai, Jessica Jeffers, Ezra Karger & Ekaterina Volkova Share Twitter LinkedIn Email Working Paper 31597 DOI 10.3386/w31597 Issue Date August 2023 We hand-collect and standardize information describing all 3,055 antitrust lawsuits brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) between 1971 and 2018. Using restricted establishment-level microdata from the U.S. Census, we compare the economic outcomes of a non-tradable industry in states targeted by DOJ antitrust lawsuits to outcomes of the same industry in other states that were not targeted. We document that DOJ antitrust enforcement actions permanently increase employment by 5.4% and business formation by 4.1%. Using an event-study design, we find (1) a sharp increase in payroll that exceeds the increase in employment, meaning that DOJ antitrust enforcement increases average wages, (2) an economically smaller increase in sales that is statistically insignificant, and (3) a precise increase in the labor share. While we cannot separately measure the quantity and price of output, the increase in production inputs (employment), together with a proportionally smaller increase in sales, strongly suggests that these DOJ antitrust enforcement actions increase the quantity of output and simultaneously decrease the price of output. Our results show that government antitrust enforcement leads to persistently higher levels of economic activity in targeted industries. * Acknowledgements and Disclosures We acknowledge financial support from the Stigler Center. Barkai and Karger acknowledge financial support from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. * Download Citation (*) MARC ( ) RIS ( ) BibTeKh Download Citation Data Related Topics Macroeconomics Consumption and Investment Labor Economics Labor Supply and Demand Other Law and Economics Industrial Organization Antitrust Programs Corporate Finance Economic Fluctuations and Growth Industrial Organization Law and Economics Labor Studies Political Economy Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship More from NBER In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates' latest findings through a range of free periodicals -- the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship -- as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews. 15th Annual Feldstein Lecture, Mario Draghi, "The Next Flight of the Bumblebee: The Path to Common Fiscal Policy in the Eurozone cover slide 2023, 15th Annual Feldstein Lecture, Mario Draghi, "The Next Flight of the Bumblebee: The Path to Common Fiscal Policy in the Eurozone" * Lecture Dr. Mario Draghi, who served as President of the European Central Bank and Prime Minister of Italy, presented the 2023... 2023 Methods Lectures, Jesse Shapiro and Liyang (Sophie) Sun, "Linear Panel Event Studies" Primary tabs 2023 Methods Lectures, Jesse Shapiro and Liyang (Sophie) Sun, "Linear Panel Event Studies" * Lecture Overview: Linear panel event studies are increasingly used to estimate and plot causal effects of changes in policies... 2023, SI Economics of Social Security, Panel Discussion, "Long-Term Dynamics of the Employment-to-Population Ratio" Primary tabs 2023, SI Economics of Social Security, Panel Discussion, "Long-Term Dynamics of the Employment-to-Population Ratio" * Lecture Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley... Follow * * * * National Bureau of Economic Research Contact Us 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 617-868-3900 info@nber.org webaccessibility@nber.org * Homepage (c) 2023 National Bureau of Economic Research. All Rights Reserved.