The Gap Between the Haves and Have-Nots of Tech Widens In the last two weeks, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon like Alphabet, all flirting with a $1 trillion stock value on Wall Street posted record results. The final member of tech's Big Five, Facebook, which is a little more than halfway to a $1 trillion valuation, also reported strong earnings. With each passing quarter, tech's wealthiest companies are building on their power, making it harder for smaller outfits to compete and for entrepreneurs to build the next Google or Facebook.

(i) Tech's richest companies seem to be defying a Wall Street assumption that as a company gets bigger, it becomes difficult to find new ways to make money and maintain rapid growth. What economic forces are driving this phenomenon? Can you separate these into demand side and supply-side factors? (ii) ( What are the implications of this for consumers? For firms?