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Testing Gibrat’s Law: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of Portuguese Manufacturing Firms

Author

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  • Blandina Oliveira

    () (ESTG, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria)

  • Adelino Fortunato

    () (GEMF and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to use Dynamic Panel Data (DPD) models to see if Gibrat’s law holds and to analyse the empirical determinants of firm growth. This paper makes significant contributions to the empirical literature on the dynamics of firm growth, since it updates the work carried out by previous researchers in this field using micro panel data and GMM estimators. To conduct this study we use an unbalanced panel of Portuguese manufacturing firms over the period from 1990 to 1999. The main implication of our findings is that firm growth is not quite random since there are some determinants which exert influence on firm growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Blandina Oliveira & Adelino Fortunato, 2003. "Testing Gibrat’s Law: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of Portuguese Manufacturing Firms," GEMF Working Papers 2003-07, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    • Handle: RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2003-07
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    Cited by:

    1. Younsuk Park & Jaeun Shin & Taejong Kim, 2010. "Firm size, age, industrial networking, and growth: a case of the Korean manufacturing industry," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 153-168, September.
    2. Marco Corsino, 2008. "Product Innovation and Growth: The Case of Integrated Circuits," ROCK Working Papers 047, Department of Computer and Management Sciences, University of Trento, Italy, revised 23 Jun 2008.
    3. Chiara Coluzzi & Annalisa Ferrando & Carmen Martínez-Carrascal, 2009. "Financing obstacles and growth: An analysis for euro area non-financial corporations," Working Papers 0836, Banco de España;Working Papers Homepage.
    4. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Daniel Halvarsson, 2015. "Are high-growth firms one-hit wonders? Evidence from Sweden," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 361-383, February.
    5. Jan Bentzen & Erik Madsen & Valdemar Smith, 2012. "Do firms’ growth rates depend on firm size?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 937-947, November.
    6. Ioannis Giotopoulos & Georgios Fotopoulos, 2010. "Intra-Industry Growth Dynamics in the Greek Services Sector: Firm-Level Estimates for ICT-Producing, ICT-Using, and Non-ICT Industries," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 59-74, February.
    7. Giorgio Canarella & Stephen M. Miller, 2017. "The Determinants of Growth in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Industry: A Firm-Level Analysis," Working papers 2017-12, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    8. García-Manjón, Juan V. & Romero-Merino, M. Elena, 2012. "Research, development, and firm growth. Empirical evidence from European top R&D spending firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1084-1092.
    9. Anna Giunta & Domenico Scalera & Annamaria Nifo, 2008. "Divisione del lavoro, crescita e divari di performance nell'industria italiana degli anni '90," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0097, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    10. Ioannis Kessides & Li Tang, 2010. "Sunk Costs, Market Contestability, and the Size Distribution of Firms," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 37(3), pages 215-236, November.
    11. Molinari, Massimo, 2013. "Joint analysis of the non-linear debt–growth nexus and cash-flow sensitivity: New evidence from Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 34-44.
    12. Giunta, Anna & Nifo, Annamaria & Scalera, Domenico, 2009. "Subcontracting in the Italian industry. Labour Division, Firms’ Growth and North-South Divide," MPRA Paper 13084, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Antje Schimke, 2011. "Factors Affecting the Growth of Manufacturing Firms - Analysis of Growth Stages: A Case of German Firms," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1386, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm growth; Gibrat’s law; Panel data; GMM estimators;

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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