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Investigating the exponential age distribution of firms

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  • Coad, Alex

Abstract

While several plots of the aggregate age distribution suggest that firm age is exponentially distributed, we find some departures from the exponential benchmark. At the lower tail, we find that very young establishments are more numerous than expected, but they face high exit hazards. At the upper tail, the oldest firms are older than the exponential would have predicted. Furthermore, the age distribution of international airline companies displays multimodality. Although we focused on departures from the exponential, we found that the exponential was a useful reference point and endorse it as an appropriate benchmark for future work on industrial structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Coad, Alex, 2010. "Investigating the exponential age distribution of firms," Economics Discussion Papers 2010-12, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Schimke, Antje & Teichert, Nina & Ott, Ingrid, 2012. "Impact of local knowledge endowment on employment growth in nanotechnology," Working Paper Series in Economics 38, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Business Engineering.
    2. Adam, Klaus & Weber, Henning, 2017. "Optimal trend inflation," Discussion Papers 25/2017, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    3. 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.
    4. Filipe Silva & Carlos Carreira, 2010. "Measuring firms’ financial constraints: Evidence for Portugal through different approaches," GEMF Working Papers 2010-15, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    5. Heinrich, Torsten & Dai, Shuanping, 2016. "Diversity of firm sizes, complexity, and industry structure in the Chinese economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 90-106.
    6. Alex Coad & Christina Guenther, 2012. "Age, diversification and survival in the German machine tool industry, 1953-2002," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2011-23, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    7. Cortés, Lina M. & Mora-Valencia, Andrés & Perote, Javier, 2017. "Measuring firm size distribution with semi-nonparametric densities," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 485(C), pages 35-47.
    8. repec:spr:joevec:v:28:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s00191-017-0523-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Coad, Alex & Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2013. "Like milk or wine: Does firm performance improve with age?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 173-189.
    10. Caterina Santi & Pietro Santoleri, 2017. "Exploring the link between innovation and growth in Chilean firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 445-467, August.
    11. Filipe Silva & Carlos Carreira, 2016. "The Role of Financial Constraints in the Services Sector: How Different is it from Manufacturing?," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 43, pages 21-41, June.
    12. Carlos Carreira & Filipe Silva, 2012. "Where Are The Fragilities? The Relationship Between Firms' Financial Constraints, Size, And Age," Book Chapters, Institute of Economic Sciences.
    13. Marco Grazzi & Daniele Moschella, 2018. "Small, young, and exporters: New evidence on the determinants of firm growth," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 125-152, January.
    14. Alex Coad & Jaganaddha Tamvada, 2012. "Firm growth and barriers to growth among small firms in India," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 383-400, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Age distribution; exponential distribution; firm size distribution; survival;

    JEL classification:

    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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