Stable profit rates in a time of rising market power: the role of financial and intangible assets in the US corporate sector

Stable profit rates in a time of rising market power: the role of financial and intangible assets in the US corporate sector

Journal article

1 online resource (pp. 293–316)

While the aggregate profit margin (profits to sales) rises almost 50% after 1980, the profit rate (profits to assets) is steady. We reconcile these two pictures of profitability by showing that firms’ sales per dollar of assets fall after 1980, reflecting growth in financial and intangible assets. This result suggests that firms receive lower sales on financial and intangible assets than on fixed capital, and links these asset holdings to competitive strategies that consolidate market power while also inflating asset values.

Industrial and Corporate Change ; Volume 35, Issue 2

Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press, 2026.

English

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