This is all very encouraging for the country’s future prospects. But such shock at the new can distract from the bigger picture, which is a less positive one. Despite all that innovation, the intensity of competition in the US has actually been decreasing in recent years. The country has been becoming less dynamic, not more. Many industries have become dominated by larger and larger firms, thanks to mergers and takeovers, which are able to obstruct newcomers and extract high profits.
