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An International Cohort Comparison of Size Effects on Job Growth

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Anyadike-Danes, Michael

    (Aston Business School and Enterprise Research Centre, UK)

  • Bjuggren, Carl Magnus

    ()

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

  • Gottschalk, Sandra

    (ZEW, Germany)

  • Hölzl, Werner

    (WIFO, Austria)

  • Johansson, Dan

    ()

    (HUI Research)

  • Maliranta, Mika

    (ETLA)

  • Myrann, Anja

    (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, Norway)

Abstract

The contribution of different-sized businesses to job creation continues to attract policymakers’ attention, however, it has recently been recognized that conclusions about size were confounded with the effect of age. We probe the role of size, controlling for age, by comparing the cohorts of firms born in 1998 over their first decade of life, using variation across half a dozen northern European countries Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK to pin down size effects. We find that a very small proportion of the smallest firms play a crucial role in accounting for cross-country differences in job growth. A closer analysis reveals that the initial size distribution and survival rates do not seem to explain job growth differences between countries, rather it is a small number of rapidly growing firms that are driving this result.

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Paper provided by Research Institute of Industrial Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number 1019.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: 24 Apr 2014
Date of revision: 30 Nov 2014
Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1019
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Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden

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More information through EDIRC

Keywords: Birth cohort; Firm age; Firm size; Firm survival; Firm growth;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
  • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
  • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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Cited by:

  1. Giovanni Dosi & Emanuele Pugliese & Pietro Santoleri, 2017. "Growth and survival of the `fitter'? Evidence from US new-born firms," LEM Papers Series 2017/06, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
  2. Habermann, Harald, 2017. "Business takeovers and firm growth: Empirical evidence from a German panel," Working Papers 01/17, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
  3. Fornaro, Paolo & Luomaranta, Henri, 2015. "Small Versus Large Firms Employment Patterns in Finland: a Comparison," MPRA Paper 66979, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Fornaro, Paolo & Luomaranta, Henri, 2016. "Job Creation and the Role of Dependencies," MPRA Paper 71586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  5. Andersson, Fredrik W. & Johansson, Dan & Karlsson, Johan & Lodefalk, Magnus & Poldahl, Andreas, 2017. "The Characteristics and Performance of Family Firms: Exploiting information on ownership, governance and kinship using total population data," Working Papers 2017:1, Örebro University, School of Business.
  6. Alex Coad & Julian S. Frankish & Richard G. Roberts & David J. Storey, 2016. "Predicting new venture survival and growth: Does the fog lift?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 217-241, June.
  7. Maliranta, Mika & Nurmi, Satu, 2016. "Business Owners, Employees and Firm Performance," ETLA Working Papers 42, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

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