 Firm Size and Structural Change: A Case Study of Ethiopia-super- †Journal of African Economies, 2012, vol. 21, issue suppl_2, -ii151 Abstract: I use firm-level census data to study changes in the structure of Ethiopia's manufacturing sector between 1998 and 2008. Over this period, aggregate manufacturing value-added grew at the same rate as GDP, the number of manufacturing firms more than doubled, and average firm size fell by more than 40%. I highlight substantial heterogeneity in economic performance across firms, and emphasise a strong association between firm size and value-added per worker. I find that 29% of the value-added size gap can be attributed to differences in product selection across small and large firms. I find no systematic difference in the output price charged by small and large firms for a given product. I therefore attribute the remaining value-added size gap to a higher level of physical labour productivity in large than in small firms. I conclude that small and large firms in Ethiopia use quite different technologies to produce similar products, and that an increase in the number of large firms would raise value-added per worker and ultimately GDP per capita in the country. Copyright 2012 , Oxford University Press. Date: 2012 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:21:y:2012:i:suppl_2:p:-ii151 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Journal of African Economies is currently edited by Francis Teal More articles in Journal of African Economies from Centre for the Study of African Economies Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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