Physicists' quest for a theory of everything is well-known. The equivalent in economics is the hunt for common causes for the rich-world macroeconomic trends of the past decade or so: a shrinking share of the economic pie for workers, disappointing investment and lacklustre （dull~mediocre~ordinary）productivity growth. The leading economic theory of everything is that competition has weakened as markets have become more concentrated.
市场集中，竞争减弱。
Unlike firms in competitive markets, monopolies limit production in order to keep prices and profits high.They can therefore be expected to restrain their investment, too. They might still be innovative-with monopoly profits up for grabs（catch~capture~seize）, why not be? -but market power usually makes economies less productive overall. And monopolies have many opportunities to take bites out of labour's share of the pie. Their high profits typically flow to investors, not workers. Their high prices eat into （to affect something by gradual destruction or consumption ）the purchasing power of wages. Their bargaining clout（influence）may even allow them to suppress pay directly.
垄断限制生产in order to高价+利润then ①减少投资so innovative ②抑制工资
Those who doubt that competition has weakened attribute such findings to the rise of superstar firms. They argue that economic activity is becoming concentrated in the best firms because of technology, network effects and globalisation. This winnertakes-most pattern could explain rising average markups（profit）, if pricey（expensive） but brilliant products are capturing more market share, or if superstar firms are unusually reliant on spending on intangible assets that is not included as a cost in gross margins. Given the growing importance of intellectual property and brand value to obvious superstars such as Apple and Google, this objection is worth taking seriously. And the fund（IMF） warns that market power could yet put a brake on innovation, should incumbent（obligatory） firms get too cosy（comfortable~easy~cozy）. That might happen if regulators are slow to respond to structural shifts in the economy,or too lax（slack） in policing mergers that allow incumbents to pick off potential competitors.
利润来源：高价质优产品/不计入毛利成本的无形资产
管制：快速经济结构转移/紧迫兼并政策
Economists are sometimes accused of having physics envy- that is, of coveting （desire~long~thirst）the precision of the hard sciences. But if economics has a law worthy of the name, it is that firms prefer to merge than to compete.
