This is a study of the dynamics of organizational concentration over time. A highly concentrated organizational population is one which is dominated by a few very large organizations while low concentration is defined as a population of organizations with many small units. This study will examine the effects of founding, failure, and growth rates on changes in concentration over time. The study will employ event history models to analyze data the founding, growth, and decline of life insurance companies in New York and Arizona. One of the major contributions of this study will be to further our understanding of the social and economic processes leading to the development of monopolies in some industries, while others are characterized by many small organizations or firms. Another contribution will be to show directly how the engine of change in the size distribution of organizations consist of organizational creation, failure, and growth rates.
