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Growth volatility and size: A firm-level study

Author

Listed:
  • Flavio Calvino

    (OCDE / OECD - Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)

  • Chiara Criscuolo

    (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science, OCDE / OECD - Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)

  • Carlo Menon

    (OCDE / OECD - Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques = Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science)

  • Angelo Secchi

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper provides a systematic cross-country investigation of the relation between a firm's growth volatility and its size. For the first time the analysis is carried out using comparable and representative sets of data sourced by official business registers of an important number of countries. We show that there exists a robust negative relation between growth volatility and size with an average elasticity equal to . We check the robustness of this result against a number of potential sources of bias and in particular with respect to sectoral disaggregation and against the inclusion of firm age. Our result is consistent with the idea that independently from specific country characteristics there exists a common underlying mechanism driving the elasticity between size and growth volatility. We then propose two mechanisms able to explain our result and we conclude discussing its relevance with respect to the recent literature on granularity.

Suggested Citation

  • Flavio Calvino & Chiara Criscuolo & Carlo Menon & Angelo Secchi, 2018. "Growth volatility and size: A firm-level study," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01802871, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01802871
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2018.04.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Jangho & Heinrich, Torsten & Winkler, Julian & Lafond, François & Koutroumpis, Pantelis & Farmer, J. Doyne, 2019. "Measuring productivity dispersion: a parametric approach using the Lévy alpha-stable distribution," MPRA Paper 96474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Giovanni Dosi & Richard B Freeman & Marcelo C Pereira & Andrea Roventini & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2021. "The impact of deunionization on the growth and dispersion of productivity and pay [It’s where you work: increases in the dispersion of earnings across establishments and individuals in the United States]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(2), pages 377-408.
    3. Flavio Calvino & Daniele Giachini & Mattia Guerini, 2022. "The age distribution of business firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 205-245, January.
    4. Caglayan, Mustafa & Machokoto, Michael, 2024. "The sensitivity of investment to internal and external funds: New emerging market evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    5. Antonella Biscione & Raul Caruso & Annunziata de Felice, 2021. "Environmental innovation in European transition countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(5), pages 521-535, January.
    6. Fontanelli, Luca & Guerini, Mattia & Napoletano, Mauro, 2023. "International trade and technological competition in markets with dynamic increasing returns," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    7. Luca Fontanelli & Mauro Napoletano & Angelo Secchi, 2025. "Rethinking volatility scaling in firm growth," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-05261824, HAL.
    8. Arata, Yoshiyuki, 2019. "Firm growth and Laplace distribution: The importance of large jumps," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 63-82.
    9. Giovanni Dosi & Marco Grazzi & Daniele Moschella & Gary Pisano & Federico Tamagni, 2020. "Long-term firm growth: an empirical analysis of US manufacturers 1959–2015," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(2), pages 309-332.
    10. Stelian STANCU & Eugenia GRECU & Mirela Ionela ACELEANU & Daniela Livia TRAŞCĂ & Claudiu Tiberiu ALBULESCU, 2021. "Does Firm Size Matters for Firm Growth? Evidence from the Romanian Health Sector," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(1), pages 17-31, December.
    11. Fontanelli, Luca & Guerini, Mattia & Miniaci, Raffaele & Secchi, Angelo, "undated". "Predictive AI and productivity growth dynamics: evidence from French firms," FEEM Working Papers 355806, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    12. Giulio Bottazzi & Taewon Kang & Federico Tamagni, 2023. "Persistence in firm growth: inference from conditional quantile transition matrices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 745-770, August.
    13. Jangho Yang & Torsten Heinrich & Julian Winkler & François Lafond & Pantelis Koutroumpis & J. Doyne Farmer, 2025. "Measuring productivity dispersion: a parametric approach using the Lévy alpha-stable distribution," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 34(1), pages 79-117.
    14. Campi, Mercedes & Dueñas, Marco, 2020. "Volatility and economic growth in the twentieth century," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 330-343.
    15. Chodorow-Reich, Gabriel & Darmouni, Olivier & Luck, Stephan & Plosser, Matthew, 2022. "Bank liquidity provision across the firm size distribution," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 908-932.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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