American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
On the Evolution of Firm Size Distributions
American Economic Review
vol. 98,
no. 1, March 2008
(pp. 426–38)
Abstract
We study the impact of financial constraints on firm size distribution (FSD). We find that financially constrained firms, identified using various proxies, are smaller than the others (their FSD is more skewed to the right). However, among OECD countries, the FSD of nonconstrained firms virtually overlaps that of the entire sample, suggesting that the overall impact of financial constraints on the FSD is modest. The difference is more pronounced in our sample of firms from non-OECD countries. We conclude that financial constraints cannot be considered the main determinant of the FSD evolution in developed economies. (JEL L11, L25)Citation
Angelini, Paolo, and Andrea Generale. 2008. "On the Evolution of Firm Size Distributions." American Economic Review, 98 (1): 426–38. DOI: 10.1257/aer.98.1.426Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- L11 Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms