# Professor Thomas Philippon and PhD student Germán Gutiérrez's joint research on the impact of competition on corporate investment in the US is featured

1 Faculty News July 21, 2017 ![The Washington Post logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_031074.jpg?itok=f6OME_Rm)>

Excerpt from [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/18/researchers-have-a-new-theory-for-why-companies-are-sitting-on-ungodly-piles-of-cash/?utm_term=.19bbddd5bb92) -- "In a paper published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, they argue that increasing concentration of economic power in the hands of relatively few behemoth corporations -- in some cases to the point where companies enjoy a near monopoly -- could explain the pattern: The big firms, unconcerned about their competitors, simply have no need to invest in staying ahead. 'It explains a big chunk of why investment is low in the U.S. today,' [Philippon](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/thomas-philippon) said."

[Read more](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/18/researchers-have-a-new-theory-for-why-companies-are-sitting-on-ungodly-piles-of-cash/?utm_term=.19bbddd5bb92)