On October 16, 2026, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hosted a hybrid symposium titled “The Secular Rise in Markups: Measurement, Causes, and Macroeconomic Implications.” The goal of the symposium, which was organized by the New York Fed's Applied Macroeconomics and Econometrics Center (AMEC), was to investigate the secular rise in markups—specifically the extent, likely causes, and macroeconomic and policy implications of the rise. The event included presentations, followed by Q&A, on key issues, ideas, and research on markups.
October 16, 2026
9:40am to 2:45pm
This was a hybrid event, with most panelists participating in person and the general audience attending virtually.
The conference was open to the public, academics, practitioners, and policymakers virtually. There were opportunities for Q&A during the event.
This event was open to the media both virtually and in person. All remarks were on the record, and a recording was made available afterward. For media inquiries, please contact Ellen Simon at Ellen.Simon@ny.frb.org.
Mary Amiti
Marco Del Negro
Jeremy Pearce
Jake Weber
| 9:40am | Introduction: Marco Del Negro (New York Fed) (00:00:13 in video) |
| 9:45am–11:00am | Session 1: Measurement (00:05:14 in video) By how much did markups rise over the past decades? To what extent is the answer robust across various assumptions? Are we measuring markups, or fixed costs, intangibles, and risk premia in disguise? How much of this increase is within firms or a reallocation of sales toward a few high-markup firms? Does the firm-level evidence square with the macro evidence from the labor and profit shares? Does the pattern appear in cross-country data and, if it differs across countries, why? Chair: Mary Amiti (New York Fed) Panelists: Susanto Basu (Boston College) | Presentation, Jan Eeckhout (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) | Presentation, and Devesh Raval (Federal Trade Commission) | Presentation |
| 11:15am–12:30pm | Session 2: Causes (01:25:19 in video) What are the most important drivers of the increase in markups? Did markups rise because competition weakened, or because the most productive firms captured larger shares? Is the rise within industries or a reallocation across them? What is the role of firm intangibles and technology? How does the American case differ from around the world, and what does that say about competition policy? What is the role of trade and globalization? Chair: Jeremy Pearce (New York Fed) Panelists: Janice Eberly (Northwestern University) | Presentation, Pinelopi Goldberg (Yale University) | Presentation, and Matthias Kehrig (Duke University) | Presentation |
| 12:30pm–1:30pm | Lunch |
| 1:30pm-2:45pm | Session 3: Macroeconomic Implications (02:41:37 in video) How does the rise in markups affect the slope of the Phillips curve and the transmission of monetary policy? Does it affect the tradeoff faced by monetary policymakers? Does it imply that the natural rate of interest has fallen? If so, through what mechanisms? Do rising markups help explain weak investment and business dynamism despite high valuations? Chair: Jake Weber (New York Fed) Panelists: David Baqaee (UCLA) | Presentation, Gauti Eggertsson (Brown University) | Presentation, and Jonathan Heathcote (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) | Presentation |
