The Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution and Nationality of Ownership

CORE Discussion Paper No. 2004/22

11 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2007

See all articles by Salvador Barrios

Salvador Barrios

European Commission, JRC - IPTS

Holger Görg

University of Kiel; Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Eric Strobl

Ecole Polytechnique, Paris - Department of Economic Sciences; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: May 2004

Abstract

It has recently been shown that the firm size distribution is initially skewed to the right and then evolves over time to become more log-normal, and argued that this is likely due to firms initially facing financial constraints, see Cabral and Mata (2003). We conjecture that, it this is true, then such a pattern should be much less apparent for multinational companies for which financial constraints arer generally considered to be lower than non-multinationals. Moreover, such a difference may be re-enforced by the fact that multinationals are less likely to face selection issues. These propositions are confirmed using plant level Irish manufacturing data.

Keywords: firm size distribution, national of ownership, financial constraints

JEL Classification: F23, L11, L60

Suggested Citation

Barrios, Salvador and Gorg, Holger and Strobl, Eric, The Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution and Nationality of Ownership (May 2004). CORE Discussion Paper No. 2004/22, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=975907 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.975907

Salvador Barrios (Contact Author)

European Commission, JRC - IPTS ( email )

Edificio Expo
C/ Inca Garcilaso s/n
Seville, 41092
Spain
34 954 48 82 08 (Phone)
34 954 48 82 08 (Fax)

Holger Gorg

University of Kiel ( email )

Olshausenstr. 40
D-24118 Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein 24118
Germany

Kiel Institute for the World Economy ( email )

P.O. Box 4309
Kiel, Schleswig-Hosltein D-24100
Germany

Eric Strobl

Ecole Polytechnique, Paris - Department of Economic Sciences ( email )

Ecole Polytechnique
Department of Economics
Paris, 75005
France

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany