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Explaining the Distribution of Firms Growth Rates

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Author Info
Giulio Bottazzi
Angelo Secchi

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Abstract

Empirical analyses on aggregated datasets have revealed a common exponential behavior in the shape of the probability density of the corporate growth rates. We present clearcut evidence on this topic using disaggregated data. We explain the observed regularities proposing a model in which the firms’ ability of taking up new business opportunities increases with the number of opportunities already exploited. A theoretical result is presented for the limiting case in which the number of firms and opportunities go to infinity. Moreover, using simulations, we show that even in a small industry the agreement with asymptotic results is almost complete.

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Paper provided by Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy in its series LEM Papers Series with number 2005/16.

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Date of creation: 15 Jul 2005
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Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2005/16

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Keywords: Firm Growth Laplace Distribution Urn Processes

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Rebecca Henderson & Iain Cockburn, 1996. "Scale, Scope, and Spillovers: The Determinants of Research Productivity in Drug Discovery," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(1), pages 32-59, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Bottazzi, Giulio & Dosi, Giovanni & Lippi, Marco & Pammolli, Fabio & Riccaboni, Massimo, 2001. "Innovation and corporate growth in the evolution of the drug industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1161-1187, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Francesca Lotti & Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2003. "Does Gibrat's Law hold among young, small firms?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 213-235, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Evans, David S, 1987. "Tests of Alternative Theories of Firm Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(4), pages 657-74, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Dunne, T. & Roberts, M.J. & Samuelson, L., 1988. "The Growth And Failure Of U.S. Manufacturing Plants," Papers 1-87-5, Pennsylvania State - Department of Economics.
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  6. Hall, Bronwyn H, 1987. "The Relationship between Firm Size and Firm Growth in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 583-606, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. B. Verspagen & G. Silverberg, 2000. "Breaking the waves: a poisson regression approach to schumpeterian clustering of basic innovations," ECIS Working Papers 00.16, Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies, Eindhoven University of Technology. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Ericson, Richard & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Markov-Perfect Industry Dynamics: A Framework for Empirical Work," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1982. "Selection and the Evolution of Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(3), pages 649-70, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. John Sutton, 1997. "Gibrat's Legacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 40-59, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Giulio Bottazzi & Elena Cefis & Giovanni Dosi & Angelo Secchi, 2003. "Invariances and Diversities in the Evolution of Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 03-17, Utrecht School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2003. "Common Properties and Sectoral Specificities in the Dynamics of U.S. Manufacturing Companies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 217-232, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Bottazzi, Giulio & Secchi, Angelo, 2003. "Why are distributions of firm growth rates tent-shaped?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 415-420, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Giulio Bottazzi & Elena Cefis & Giovanni Dosi, 2001. "Corporate Growth and Industrial Structure. Some Evidence from the Italian Manufacturing Industry," LEM Papers Series 2001/08, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Singh, Ajit & Whittington, Geoffrey, 1975. "The Size and Growth of Firms," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(1), pages 15-26, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni, 2006. "Financial Fragility and Growth Dynamics of Italian Business Firms," LEM Papers Series 2006/07, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Alex Coad, 2006. "Towards an explanation of the exponential distribution of firm growth rates," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques r06025, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Sandro Sapio, 2006. "An Empirically Based Model of the Supply Schedule in Day-Ahead Electricity Markets," LEM Papers Series 2006/12, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  4. Giorgio Fagiolo & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini, 2006. "Are Output Growth-Rate Distributions Fat-Tailed? Some Evidence from OECD Countries," Working Papers 36, Università di Verona, Dipartimento di Scienze economiche. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni, 2006. "Productivity, Profitability and Financial Fragility: Evidence from Italian Business Firms," LEM Papers Series 2006/08, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  6. Sandro Sapio & Grid Thoma, 2006. "The Growth of Industrial Sectors: Theoretical Insights and Empirical Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing," LEM Papers Series 2006/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  7. Giulio Bottazzi & Marco Grazzi & Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni, 2007. "Assessing the Impact of Credit Ratings and Economic Performance on Firm Default," LEM Papers Series 2007/15, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  8. Alex Coad, 2006. "Understanding the processes of firm Growth - a closer look at serial growth rate correlation," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques r06051, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Carolina Castaldi & Giovanni Dosi, 2007. "The patterns of output growth of firms and countries: new evidence on scale invariances and scale specificities," LEM Papers Series 2007/14, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  10. Giulio Bottazzi, 2007. "A comment on the relationship between firms' size and growth rate," LEM Papers Series 2007/11, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  11. Alex Coad, 2006. "A Closer Look at Serial Growth Rate Correlation," LEM Papers Series 2006/29, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Giulio Bottazzi, 2007. "On the Irreconcilability of Pareto and Gibrat Laws," LEM Papers Series 2007/10, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  13. Giulio Bottazzi & Marco Grazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2004. "Characterizing the Production Process: A Disaggregated Analysis of Italian Manufacturing Firms," LEM Papers Series 2004/24, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
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