The Nature of Firm Growth

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sterk, Vincent; Sedlacek, Petr; Pugsley, Benjamin
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); University of Oxford; University of Notre Dame
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20190748
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 547-579
• 关键词: size distribution; PRODUCTIVITY; earnings; finance; plants

摘要

About one-half of all startups fail within five years, and those that survive grow at vastly different speeds. Using Census microdata, we estimate that most of these differences are determined by ex ante heterogeneity rather than persistent ex post shocks. Embedding such heterogeneity in a firm dynamics model shows that the presence of ex ante heterogeneity (i) is a key determinant of the firm size distribution and firm dynamics, (ii) can strongly affect the macroeconomic effects of firm-level frictions, and (iii) helps understand the recently documented decline in business dynamism by showing a disappearance of high-growth startups (gazelles) since the mid-1980s.