Data and Markups: A Macro-Finance Perspective

How can we measure the extent to which data-intensive firms are using their market power? Economists typically look to markups as evidence of market power. Using a simple model with firms that price risk in their capital allocation and production decisions, we highlight the competing forces that make markups an unreliable measure of data-derived market power. Instead, we show how markups measured at different levels of aggregation reflect data and distinguish data from other intangible investments. These findings both reconcile seemingly contradictory empirical markup evidence and guide us to new ways of measuring data and its
effects on markets.