Lotti, Francesca ;
Santarelli, Enrico ;
Vivarelli, Marco
(2003)
Gibrat's Law and Market Selection in the Radio, TV & Telecommunications Equipment Industry.
Bologna:
Dipartimento di Scienze economiche DSE,
p. 14.
DOI
10.6092/unibo/amsacta/4816.
In: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE
(478).
ISSN 2282-6483.
Full text available as:
Abstract
According to Gibrat’s Law of Proportionate Effect, the growth rate of a given firm is independent
of its size at the beginning of the period examined. In contrast to the previous literature on the
subject, this paper seeks to test the Law by taking account of both the entry process and the role of
survival/failure in reshaping a given population of firms over time. It does so by focusing on the
entire population of firms (including newborn ones) in the Italian Radio, TV &
Telecommunications equipment industry and tracking them over seven years. Consistently with the
previous literature, it finds that - in general - Gibrat’s Law is to be rejected, since smaller firms tend
to grow faster than their larger counterparts. However, the paper’s main finding is that this rejection
of Gibrat’s Law may be due to market dynamics and selection. In other words, it is due to the entry
process and the presence of transient smaller firms. Indeed, whilst it is found that Gibrat’s Law has
to be rejected over a seven-year period during which both incumbent and newborn firms are
considered, for both sub-populations of surviving firms a convergence towards Gibrat-like behavior
over time can be detected. Thus, market selection “cleans” the original population of firms and the
resulting industrial “core” (mature, larger, well-established and most efficient firms) does not seem
to depart from a Gibrat-like pattern of growth.
Abstract
According to Gibrat’s Law of Proportionate Effect, the growth rate of a given firm is independent
of its size at the beginning of the period examined. In contrast to the previous literature on the
subject, this paper seeks to test the Law by taking account of both the entry process and the role of
survival/failure in reshaping a given population of firms over time. It does so by focusing on the
entire population of firms (including newborn ones) in the Italian Radio, TV &
Telecommunications equipment industry and tracking them over seven years. Consistently with the
previous literature, it finds that - in general - Gibrat’s Law is to be rejected, since smaller firms tend
to grow faster than their larger counterparts. However, the paper’s main finding is that this rejection
of Gibrat’s Law may be due to market dynamics and selection. In other words, it is due to the entry
process and the presence of transient smaller firms. Indeed, whilst it is found that Gibrat’s Law has
to be rejected over a seven-year period during which both incumbent and newborn firms are
considered, for both sub-populations of surviving firms a convergence towards Gibrat-like behavior
over time can be detected. Thus, market selection “cleans” the original population of firms and the
resulting industrial “core” (mature, larger, well-established and most efficient firms) does not seem
to depart from a Gibrat-like pattern of growth.
Document type
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Creators
Keywords
Gibrat’s Law; manufacturing; industrial dynamics; entry; survival; selection bias
Subjects
ISSN
2282-6483
DOI
Deposit date
09 Mar 2016 11:49
Last modified
09 Mar 2016 11:49
URI
Other metadata
Document type
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Creators
Keywords
Gibrat’s Law; manufacturing; industrial dynamics; entry; survival; selection bias
Subjects
ISSN
2282-6483
DOI
Deposit date
09 Mar 2016 11:49
Last modified
09 Mar 2016 11:49
URI
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