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BESSEMBINDER 2026 · 1926—2025

BESSEMBINDER 2026 · 1926—2025 — Half a century's wealth took 46 firms

The concentration ladder — How many firms it took to account for a tenth, a quarter, half and all of the century's net wealth creation.

Rank all 29,081 CRSP firms by the dollars they earned above Treasury bills and read down the list: 2 firms account for the first tenth of the century's $90.96 trillion, 8 for a quarter, 46 for half, 1,082 for all of it. Run through 2016 on the same measure, half took 89 firms. Log axis, because each rung is a multiple of the last rather than a few more names.

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What this page answers

This static page is built to answer searches for BESSEMBINDER 2026 · 1926—2025. It summarizes the live dataset behind the Half a century's wealth took 46 firms panel and links to the full interactive chart.

Rank all 29,081 CRSP firms by the dollars they earned above Treasury bills and read down the list: 2 firms account for the first tenth of the century's $90.96 trillion, 8 for a quarter, 46 for half, 1,082 for all of it. Run through 2016 on the same measure, half took 89 firms. Log axis, because each rung is a multiple of the last rather than a few more names. The data is refreshed by the History of Market pipeline and published as a stable JSON endpoint for research, citation, and AI-agent use.

The plate

BESSEMBINDER 2026 · 1926—2025 — Half a century's wealth took 46 firms10% of wealth2 firms25% of wealth8 firms50% of wealth46 firms75% of wealth208 firmsAll of it1,082 firms
Plate .4 Rank all 29,081 CRSP firms by the dollars they earned above Treasury bills and read down the list: 2 firms account for the first tenth of the century's $90.96 trillion, 8 for a quarter, 46 for half, 1,082 for all of it. Run through 2016 on the same measure, half took 89 firms. Log axis, because each rung is a multiple of the last rather than a few more names.

Data & Source

GET /api/static/bessembinder-2026.json — Canonical dataset endpoint.

Exchange closing prices · Company filings · Robert Shiller · FRED · NBER.

FAQ

Where does this data come from?

History of Market combines public market and macro datasets — exchange closing prices, company filings, Robert Shiller, FRED, NBER, and the UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook (Dimson–Marsh–Staunton). The exact endpoint for this panel is linked below.

How often is it updated?

Daily-tier datasets refresh after the U.S. market close, with a broader weekly refresh on Sunday. The timestamp shown on this page comes from the JSON payload.

Can I use the data?

Yes, for research and education with attribution to History of Market. Upstream data sources retain their own terms.