Firm size and economic concentration: An analysis from lognormal expansion

This paper proposes a semi-nonparametric (SNP) generalization of the lognormal distribution for studying firm size and providing accurate measures for economic concentration and inequality in terms of the Gini index adjusted to flexible functional forms. The empirical application for a sample of 1,7...

Full description

Autores:
Cortés, Lina
Lozada, Juan
Perote, Javier
Tipo de recurso:
Fecha de publicación:
2020
Institución:
Universidad EAFIT
Repositorio:
Repositorio EAFIT
Idioma:
spa
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.eafit.edu.co:10784/16324
Acceso en línea:
http://hdl.handle.net/10784/16324
Palabra clave:
Firm growth
Firms size
Gini index
Semi-nonparametric approach.
Rights
License
Acceso abierto
Description
Summary:This paper proposes a semi-nonparametric (SNP) generalization of the lognormal distribution for studying firm size and providing accurate measures for economic concentration and inequality in terms of the Gini index adjusted to flexible functional forms. The empirical application for a sample of 1,772 Colombian companies from 2002 to 2015 shows that the log-SNP provides a better fit to firm size distribution, especially for the extreme quantiles, for which lognormal distribution overestimates economic concentration. In addition, dynamic panel model estimates indicate that firm characteristics, including size, age, and leverage, are determining factors in explaining firm growth, thus rejecting Gibrat’s law.