Policy feedback and the transformation of inter-corporate power: an account of neoliberal resilience.

Why do neoliberal policies endure despite their contentious record? One school of thought emphasises the power that corporate actors have amassed as markets have been globalised and financialised. This article concurs but departs from the tendency to see business support as monolithic. Across a wide range of policy domains it highlights the potential for inter-firm conflict – particularly between larger, more internationalised companies and those likely to feel the pressure of foreign competition most intensely. The paper argues that liberalising reforms alter corporate demographics in ways that strengthen neoliberalism itself. Larger, internationally integrated firms – most likely to endorse market opening – grow their ‘structural prominence’, capturing a greater share of sales and profits. Meanwhile, smaller or less globally integrated enterprises often succumb, exiting the market. Drawing on multi-decade, cross-national data, it shows a marked upswing in inter-firm inequality. Using an instrumental-variable strategy, it further demonstrate that neoliberal reforms account for much of this skewing of corporate power.