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The Life Cycle of Plants in India and Mexico

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  • Chang-Tai Hsieh
  • Peter J. Klenow

Abstract

In the United States, the average 40-year-old plant employs more than seven times as many workers as the typical plant 5 years or younger. In contrast, surviving plants in India and Mexico exhibit much slower growth, roughly doubling in size over the same age range. The divergence in plant dynamics suggests lower investments by Indian and Mexican plants in process efficiency, quality, and in accessing markets at home and abroad. In simple general equilibrium models, we find that the difference in life cycle dynamics could lower aggregate manufacturing productivity on the order of 25 percent in India and Mexico relative to the United States. JEL Codes: O11, O47, O53.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2014. "The Life Cycle of Plants in India and Mexico," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1035-1084.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:129:y:2014:i:3:p:1035-1084
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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