Are high-growth firms one-hit wonders? Evidence from Sweden

Sven-Olov Daunfeldt and Daniel Halvarsson ()

Small Business Economics, 2015, vol. 44, issue 2, 383 pages

Abstract: Most firms do not grow, and a small number of high-growth firms seem to create most new jobs. These firms have therefore received increasing attention among policymakers. The question is whether high-growth tends to persist? We investigate this question using firm-level data from Sweden during 1997–2008. We find that high-growth firms had declining growth rates in the previous 3-year period, and their probability of repeating high growth rates was very low. Thus, these are essentially “one-hit wonders,” and it is doubtful whether policymakers can improve economic outcomes by targeting them. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Keywords: Gazelles; High-growth firms; Growth persistence; Autocorrelation; Transition probabilities; L11; L25; L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (92)

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Working Paper: Are high-growth firms one-hit wonders? Evidence from Sweden (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:44:y:2015:i:2:p:361-383

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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-014-9599-8

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