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Macroeconomic Implications of Size Dependent Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Xu Yi
  • Nezih Guner

    (Economics Pennsylvania State University)

  • Gustavo Ventura

Abstract

Government policies that impose restrictions on the size of large establishments or firms, or promote small ones, are widespread across countries. In this paper, we develop a framework to systematically study policies of this class. We study a simple growth model with an endogenous size distribution of production units. We parameterize this model to account for the size distribution of establishments and for the (observed) large share of employment in large establishments. Then, we ask: quantitatively, how costly are policies that distort the size of production units? What is the impact of these policies on productivity measures, the equilibrium number of establishments and their size distribution? We find that these effects are potentially large: policies that reduce the average size of establishments by 20% lead to reductions in output and output per establishment up to 8.1% and 25.6% respectively, as well as large increases in the number of establishments (23.5%).
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Xu Yi & Nezih Guner & Gustavo Ventura, 2005. "Macroeconomic Implications of Size Dependent Policies," 2005 Meeting Papers 530, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed005:530
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Size Distortions; Firm Size; Cross-Country Productivity Differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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