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Unraveling Firms: Demand, Productivity and Markups Heterogeneity

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  • Emanuele Forlani
  • Ralf Martin
  • Giordano Mion
  • Mirabelle Muls

Abstract

We develop a new econometric framework that simultaneously allows recovering heterogeneity in demand, TFP and markups across firms while leaving the correlation among the three unrestricted. We do this by systematically exploiting assumptions that are implicit in previous firm-level productivity estimation approaches. We use Belgian firms production data to quantify TFP, demand and markups and show how they are correlated among them, across time and with measures obtained from other approaches. We also show to what extent our three dimensions of heterogeneity allow us to gain deeper and sharper insights on two key firm-level outcomes: export status and size.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuele Forlani & Ralf Martin & Giordano Mion & Mirabelle Muls, 2016. "Unraveling Firms: Demand, Productivity and Markups Heterogeneity," CESifo Working Paper Series 5725, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5725
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    7. Stiebale, Joel & Vencappa, Dev, 2018. "Acquisitions, markups, efficiency, and product quality: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 70-87.
    8. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Annalisa Ferrando & Klaas Mulier & Marijn Verschelde, 2020. "Identifying Financial Constraints," Working Papers ECARES 2020-04, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Nonparametric Production Analysis with Unobserved Heterogeneity in Productivity," Working Papers ECARES 2018-25, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    10. Nick Jacob & Giordano Mion, 2023. "The UK's Great Demand and Supply Recession," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(5), pages 993-1022, October.
    11. De Loecker, Jan, 2021. "Comment on (Un)pleasant ... by Bond et al (2020)," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 15-18.
    12. Matteo G. Richiardi & Luis Valenzuela, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and the aggregate labour share," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 38(1), pages 66-101, March.
    13. Bridget Kauma & Giordano Mion, 2023. "Regional productivity differences in the UK and France: From the micro to the macro," CEP Discussion Papers dp1955, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Giulia Felice & Emanuele Forlani & Paolo Garella, 2018. "Non-tariff measures and competitiveness," Development Working Papers 438, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 01 Feb 2023.
    15. di Mauro, Filippo & Mion, Giordano & Stöhlker, Daniel, 2017. "The drivers of revenue productivity: a new decomposition analysis with firm-level data," Working Paper Series 2014, European Central Bank.
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    19. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Cédric Duprez & Glenn Magerman & Marijn Verschelde, 2021. "Structural Identification of Productivity under Biased Technological Change∗," Working Papers ECARES 2021-28, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
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    21. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Annalisa Ferrando & Klaas Mulier & Marijn Verschelde, 2018. "Identifying Financial Constraints from Production Data," Working Papers ECARES 2018-31, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    demand; productivity; markups; production function estimation; export status; firm size;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

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