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The Business Cycle, Macroeconomic Shocks and the Cross Section: The Growth of UK Quoted Companies

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  • Higson, C.
  • Holly, S.
  • Kattuman, P.
  • S. Platis

Abstract

Co-movements and correlations in the major macroeconomic aggregates has been the focus of much recent literature in business cycle research. In this paper we provide another dimension to business cycle analysis. We examine the evolution of the cross sectional distribution of the growth rates of UK quoted companies from 1968 to 1997 and find correlations between aggregate business cycle fluctuations and the higher moments of the cross sectional distribution of growth rates. To explain this we analyse the sensitivity of firms to aggregate shocks, conditioning growth on firm size, age and industry. We find that the contemporaneous effects of aggregate shocks, both positive and negative, are significantly more pronounced for firms in the interior of growth rate range. This explains cycle-related patterns in the dynamics of the moments of the growth rate cross section. These findings are of importance in understanding firm level as well as business cycle dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Higson, C. & Holly, S. & Kattuman, P. & S. Platis, 2001. "The Business Cycle, Macroeconomic Shocks and the Cross Section: The Growth of UK Quoted Companies," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0114, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cam:camdae:0114
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    Cited by:

    1. Jorg Dopke & Sebastian Weber, 2010. "The within-distribution business cycle dynamics of German firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(29), pages 3789-3802.
    2. Sean Holly & Emiliano Santoro, 2007. "Financial Fragility, Heterogeneous Firms and the Cross Section of the Business Cycle," Money Macro and Finance (MMF) Research Group Conference 2006 96, Money Macro and Finance Research Group.
    3. Emiliano Santoro, 2006. "Macroeconomic fluctuations and the firms' rate of growth distribution: evidence from UK and US quoted companies," Department of Economics Working Papers 0606, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    4. Strotmann, Harald & Döpke, Jörg & Buch, Claudia M., 2006. "Does trade openness increase firm-level volatility?," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2006,40, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    5. Higson, C. & Holly, S. & Kattuman, P., 2002. "The cross-sectional dynamics of the US business cycle: 1950-1999," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(9-10), pages 1539-1555, August.
    6. Bachmann, Ruediger & Bayer, Christian, 2009. "Firm-specific productivity risk over the business cycle: facts and aggregate implications," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,15, Deutsche Bundesbank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business cycles; cross sectional moments; firm growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing

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