Competition economists spend their entire careers studying markets, but rarely study their own.
In a new study published by Global Competition Review, Founding Partner Jon Orszag and Principal Martin Wickens estimate the size of the global competition economics consulting market and how it has changed since 2000. They use two approaches: a bottom-up approach that estimates the revenue for 45 individual consulting firms and an estimate for smaller firms; and a top-down approach that estimates the number of working competition economists in each year and applies assumptions about billing rates, utilization, and billable hours to estimate total industry revenue.
In the study, four key findings stand out:
1. A $3 billion industry – The authors estimate global competition economics revenue at $2.8–$3.0 billion in 2026.
2. Tenfold growth. The market is roughly ten times its 2000 size, having grown about 9–10% annually through the dot-com bust, the financial crisis, a pandemic, and shifting antitrust enforcement priorities.
3. Demand-driven growth. The number of competition economists has grown more than fivefold, while average billing rates have roughly kept pace with inflation.
4. A far less concentrated market. The five largest firms accounted for about 83% of industry revenue in 2000, compared with 56% today. The market didn’t just get bigger, but also developed a significant middle tier.
Read the full study here.
This article was first published in Global Competition Review here.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Econic Partners or its clients.
