On the size distribution of firms: additional evidence from the G7 countries

Edoardo Gaffeo, Mauro Gallegati and Antonio Palestrini ()

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2003, vol. 324, issue 1, 117-123

Abstract: We analyze the average size distribution of a pool of the G7 group's firms over the period 1987–2000. In particular, firm sizes are measured employing different proxies, and after conditioning on business cycle phases. We find that: (i) the empirical distributions are all consistent with a power law; (ii) point estimates suggest that only in limited cases the exponent is equal to −1, i.e., the resulting size distribution generally is not Zipf; (iii) regardless of the variable employed to measure firm sizes, firms are distributed more equally during recessions than during expansions.

Keywords: Firm size; Scaling; Power law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (113)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:324:y:2003:i:1:p:117-123

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(02)01890-3

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