If the new findings are corroborated by other researchers, they will have three important ramifications. First, they directly link Federal Reserve policy to the competitive structure of industries, suggesting a closer connection between monetary policy and the superstar phenomenon than had been previously appreciated.
Second, they raise the question of whether similar effects are seen in other countries. The decline in interest rates, after all, has been global. Whether similar effects are seen elsewhere would contribute importantly to the ongoing debate over the role of different factors, including antitrust enforcement, in the rise of the superstars.
Finally, as Robert Rubin, Joseph Stiglitz and I emphasized earlier this year, despite the best efforts of policy makers and central banks, interest rates are fundamentally uncertain. Low rates seem to contribute to the disproportionate growth of superstar firms — for better or worse — but neither they nor the rest of us know how long the era of low rates will persist.
Peter R. Orszag is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the chief executive officer of financial advisory at Lazard. He was director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2010, and director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2007 to 2008.