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Explaining the Distribution of Firm Growth Rates

Author

Listed:
  • Giulio Bottazzi

    (St. Anna School for Advanced Studies)

  • Angelo Secchi

    (LEM Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna)

Abstract

Empirical analyses on aggregated datasets have revealed a common exponential behavior in the shape of the probability density of corporate growth rates. We present clear-cut evidence on this topic using disaggregated data. We explain the observed regularities proposing a model in which firms' ability to take 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2006. "Explaining the Distribution of Firm Growth Rates," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 235-256, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:rje:randje:v:37:y:2006:2:p:235-256
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pallante, Gianluca & Guerini, Mattia & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2025. "Robust-less-fragile: Tackling systemic risk and financial contagion in a macro agent-based model," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Domenico Delli Gatti & Tommaso Ferraresi & Filippo Gusella & Lilit Popoyan & Giorgio Ricchiuti & Andrea Roventini, 2024. "The complex interplay between exchange rate and real markets: an agent-based model exploration," LEM Papers Series 2024/24, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Domenico Delli Gatti & Tommaso Ferraresi & Filippo Gusella & Lilit Popoyan & Giorgio Ricchiuti & Andrea Roventini, 2024. "The interplay between real and exchange rate market: an agent-based model approach," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_10.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    4. Klaus S. Friesenbichler & Andreas Reinstaller, 2023. "Small and internationalized firms competing with Chinese exporters," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 167-192, March.
    5. Metzig, Cornelia & Gordon, Mirta B., 2014. "A model for scaling in firms’ size and growth rate distribution," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 398(C), pages 264-279.
    6. Alessandra Colombelli & Francesco Quatraro, 2014. "The persistence of firms' knowledge base: a quantile approach to Italian data," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 585-610, October.
    7. Einar Erlingsson & Simone Alfarano & Marco Raberto & Hlynur Stefánsson, 2013. "On the distributional properties of size, profit and growth of Icelandic firms," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 8(1), pages 57-74, April.
    8. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Davide Castellani & Fabio Pieri, 2014. "Age and firm growth: evidence from three European countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 823-837, December.
    9. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/9848 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/9848 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Colombelli, Alessandra & Haned, Naciba & Le Bas, Christian, 2013. "On firm growth and innovation: Some new empirical perspectives using French CIS (1992–2004)," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 14-26.
    12. Philipp Mundt & Simone Alfarano & Mishael Milakovic, 2016. "Gibrat’s Law Redux: think profitability instead of growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571.
    13. Amaia Altuzarra, 2024. "Innovation Persistence and Firm Growth: Do They Go Hand in Hand?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 18590-18616, December.
    14. Russell Golman & Steven Klepper, 2016. "Spinoffs and clustering," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(2), pages 341-365, May.
    15. Lunardi, José T. & Miccichè, Salvatore & Lillo, Fabrizio & Mantegna, Rosario N. & Gallegati, Mauro, 2014. "Do firms share the same functional form of their growth rate distribution? A statistical test," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 140-164.
    16. Severin Reissl & Luca E. Fierro & Francesco Lamperti & Andrea Roventini, 2024. "The DSK-SFC stock-flow consistent agent-based integrated assessment model," LEM Papers Series 2024/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    17. Belso-Martinez, Jose A. & Molina-Morales, F. Xavier & Mas-Verdu, Francisco, 2013. "Combining effects of internal resources, entrepreneur characteristics and KIS on new firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2079-2089.
    18. Sermet Pekin & Aykut Sengul, 2024. "The Good, the Better and the Challenging:Insights into Predicting High-Growth Firms using Machine Learning," Working Papers 2413, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    19. Alfarano, Simone & Milakovic, Mishael, 2008. "Does classical competition explain the statistical features of firm growth?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 272-274, December.
    20. Sündal, Doğuhan, 2024. "Relative size distribution of business firms—A QRSE approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    21. Daan Kolkman & Gwendolyn K Lee & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2024. "Data science and automation in the process of theorizing: Machine learning’s power of induction in the co-duction cycle," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-30, November.
    22. Băncescu, Irina & Chivu, Luminiţa & Massing, Till & Preda, Vasile & Puente-Ajovín, Miguel & Ramos, Arturo, 2024. "On the parametric description of log-growth rates of Romanian city sizes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 643(C).
    23. Matthias Duschl & Thomas Brenner, 2011. "Characteristics of Regional Industry-specific Employment Growth – Empirical Evidence for Germany," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2011-07, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    24. Giovanni Dosi & Marcelo C. Pereira & Gabriel Petrini & Andrea Roventini & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2025. "From ABM back to real data: time series visualization and model selection in the K+S agent-based model," LEM Papers Series 2025/17, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

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