Too Many Companies Drain Value From the Economy | Bloomberg Opinion

Source: Too Many Companies Drain Value From the Economy | Bloomberg Opinion, by Noah Smith

How much of this increase in market value was due to rent extraction, or to the expectation of future rent extraction?

it’s possible that big companies are increasing their market power by using lobbying to capture politicians and regulators. If this is true, it’s very bad news for free markets and capitalism. … Why exactly big companies and their lobbyists might have become more successful in bending regulation to their will since 2000 is still a mystery, but it’s a phenomenon that deserves more attention and investigation.