|
on Business Economics |
| By: | Takushi Kurozumi; Willem Van Zandweghe |
| Abstract: | Recent research indicates substantial differences in price-setting behavior between small and large firms, as only large firms exhibit strategic complementarities in price setting. Using firm survey data, we present new evidence that the cost-price pass-through decreases with firm size. To examine the implications for inflation dynamics, we develop a DSGE model that features heterogeneous complementarities across firm size. While standard DSGE models with homogeneous firms generate real rigidity in relative prices, there is little such rigidity in our model. Heterogeneity in strategic complementarity by firm size weakens real rigidity because large firms that exhibit strategic complementarities bring their product prices in line with those of small firms that more fully pass through cost changes. Our findings challenge the notion of strategic complementarity as a source of real rigidity in DSGE models. |
| Keywords: | firm heterogeneity; pass-through; monetary non-neutrality |
| JEL: | E31 E52 L11 |
| Date: | 2025–06–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:100041 |
| By: | Giuseppe Berlingieri; Maarten De Ridder; Danial Lashkari; Davide Rigo |
| Abstract: | In theories of creative destruction, product innovation is a key driver of aggregate growth. In this paper, we confront the predictions of these theories about product dynamics with empirical patterns in product-level data on the near-universe of French manufacturing firms. We find that the process of product innovation frequently exhibits bursts-episodes in which firms rapidly add multiple products to their portfolio. Such bursts lead to substantial shifts in revenue and explain the majority of the variance in firm-level growth. We introduce a model of firm product innovation compatible with such a process that also nests the canonical models of creative destruction. We show that innovation bursts alter the equilibrium composition of age, size, and innovation efficiency of firms, and further explain the concentration of production among superstar firms. Our model thus enables the joint study of the determinants of industry concentration and growth in a setting consistent with the empirical patterns of product dynamics. |
| Keywords: | productivity, endogenous growth, firms, innovation |
| Date: | 2025–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2095 |
| By: | Nicholas Bloom; Jonathan S. Hartley; Raffaella Sadun; Rachel Schuh; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | We show better-managed firms are more dynamic in plant acquisitions, disposals, openings and closings in U.S. Census and international data. Better-managed firms also birth better-managed plants and improve the performance of the plants they acquire. To explain these findings, we build a model with two key elements. First, management is a combination of firm-level management ability (e.g. CEO quality), which can be transferred to all plants, and plant-level management practices, which can be changed through intangible investment (e.g. consulting or training). Second, management both raises productivity and also reduces the operational costs of dynamism: buying, selling, opening and closing plants. We structurally estimate the model on Census microdata, fitting our key dynamic moments, and then use it to establish three additional results. First, mergers and acquisitions raise economy-wide management and productivity by reallocating plants to firms with higher management ability. Banning M&A would depress GDP and management by about 15%. Second, greater product market competition improves both management and productivity by reallocating away from badly managed plants. Finally, management practices account for about a fifth of the cross-country productivity differences with the US. |
| Keywords: | management practices, mergers and acquisitions, productivity, competition |
| Date: | 2025–05–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2102 |
| By: | Pauline Carry; Benny Kleinman; Elio Nimier-David |
| Abstract: | Why are wages in cities like New York or Paris higher than in others? This paper uses firm mobility to separate the role of “location effects” (e.g., local geography, infrastructure, and agglomeration) from the spatial sorting of workers and firms. Using French administrative records and U.S. commercial data, we first document that firm mobility is widespread: 4% of establishments relocate annually. Establishments retain their main activity and structure as they move, but adjust their workforce and wages. Combining firm and worker mobility, we then decompose wage disparities across French commuting zones. We find that spatial wage differences are largely driven by the sorting and co-location of workers and firms: location effects account for only 2–5% of disparities, while differences in the composition of workers and establishments account for around 30% and 15%, respectively. The remaining half is accounted for by the co-location of high-wage workers and firms, especially in cities with high location effects. Revisiting the elasticity of local wages to population density, we find a significant coefficient of 0.007 - two to three times lower than estimates not controlling for firm composition. |
| JEL: | F0 J0 R0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33779 |
| By: | Raffaella Sadun; Rachel J. Schuh; Jonathan S. Hartley; John Van Reenen; Nicholas Bloom |
| Abstract: | We show better-managed firms are more dynamic in plant acquisitions, disposals, openings and closings in U.S. Census and international data. Better-managed firms also birth better-managed plants and improve the performance of the plants they acquire. To explain these findings we build a model with two key elements. First, management is a combination of firm-level management ability (e.g. CEO quality), which can be transferred to all plants, and plant-level management practices, which can be changed through intangible investment (e.g. consulting or training). Second, management both raises productivity and also reduces the operational costs of dynamism: buying, selling, opening and closing plants. We structurally estimate the model on Census microdata, fitting our key dynamic moments, and then use it to establish three additional results. First, mergers and acquisitions raise economy-wide management and productivity by reallocating plants to firms with higher management ability. Banning M&A would depress GDP and management by about 15%. Second, greater product market competition improves both management and productivity by reallocating away from badly managed plants. Finally, management practices account for about 20% of the cross-country productivity differences with the US. |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33765 |
| By: | Glenn Magerman; Dieter Van Esbroeck |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of Covid-19 support measures on firms in Wallonia. Using a rich set of administrative data, we analyze the allocation and effects of firm-level subsidies implemented in 2020–2021 in response to the pandemic. We find that support programs were taken up by mostly small, young firms, and in sectors most affected by lockdowns, such as retail, food services, and construction. We find no evidence of misallocation of resources towards ’zombie firms’, firms which tend to not contribute value added to the economy. Firms that received support experienced an 8–9% increase in labor productivity relative to firms that applied for, but did not obtain support. The impact on firm productivity persists at least one year after support. Moreover, receipt of support is associated with a 19% reduction in the likelihood of firm exit. These findings suggest that the support measures were effective in maintaining economic activity and avoiding mass firm failures during the crisis. These results are also consistent with findings for Flanders, reinforcing the evidence base for the design of crisis-response policies |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, Firm subsidies, productivity |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/391423 |
| By: | Philippe Aghion; Antonin Bergeaud; Mathias Dewatripont; Johannes Matt |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of endogenous growth and firm dynamics with soft budget constraints, where firms differ in their innovation speed and slower firms need additional financing in order to eventually innovate. As creditors cannot anticipate refinancing needs in advance nor credibly commit to withholding future refinancing, a Soft Budget Constraint Syndrome emerges, causing excessive entry by slow firms and crowding out potentially more efficient innovators. The resulting trade-off between the positive effects of budget constraint softening on innovation by incumbents and slow-type entrants and its negative effects on entry by fast innovators, generates a hump-shaped relationship between refinancing costs and aggregate growth. Calibrating the model to French firm-level data, we show that the budget constraint softening associated with the decline in interest rates in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis accounts for 54% of the observed drop in the aggregate growth rates post-crisis. Although the softening in budget constraints has had a positive effect on incumbent innovation, this was more than offset by the resulting decrease in the entry rates of good firms (by 61% relative to the pre-crisis steady state). |
| Keywords: | firm dynamics, credit growth, soft budget constraint |
| Date: | 2025–04–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2091 |
| By: | Nicoletta Berardi; Federico Ravenna; Mario Samano |
| Abstract: | Using a novel dataset from a large grocery retailer in a European country that never engages in temporary sale promotions, we establish that prices behave very similarly to regular prices set by retailers engaging in temporary promotional sales. We find evidence of state-dependent price setting in a multi-product firm when es timating the responsiveness of prices to exogenous demand shifts. The ’everyday regular prices’ dataset is characterized by a more than trivial share of small price changes, and low synchronization of price changes across items. Price rigidity, se lection and the extent of state-dependence are heterogeneous across items. Pricing of top sales items is more flexible and state-dependent compared to items that rep resent a small share of total revenues, a result consistent with price setting in a multi-product firm characterized by rational inattention. This result implies that inferences about firm-level price setting mechanisms from price microdata may be inaccurate if heterogeneity in price setting within the same firm is not taken into account. |
| Keywords: | price setting, multi-product firm, state-dependence, synchronization, rational inattention, promotional price, regular price |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:733 |
| By: | Nava Ashraf; Oriana Bandiera; Virginia Minni; Luigi Zingales |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a firm's unusual, worker-centered, solution to the agency problem: enabling employees to reduce the cost of effort rather than pushing them with performance rewards. We randomize the roll-out of the firm's "Discover Your Purpose" intervention among 2, 976 white-collar employees and evaluate their outcomes over two years. We find that performance increases because the low performers either leave the firm or improve in their current jobs. The trade-off between meaning and pay flattens as those with low meaning and high pay leave the firm. Treatment also reshapes stated priorities and reduces gender gaps in preferences and behaviors, including uptake of parental leave. A cost-benefit analysis reveals high returns that are shared between the firm and the employees through higher bonuses. Finally, we show that observational data obscure these gains, causing firms to underestimate the intervention's true value. |
| Keywords: | incentives, worker motivation, worker performance, meaning-making |
| Date: | 2025–05–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2104 |
| By: | Alessia Matano (Dipartimento di Economia e Diritto, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy. AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.); Paolo Naticchioni (Roma Tre University and IZA, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between China’s import competition and the innovation strategies of domestic firms. Using firm level data from Italy spanning 2005-2010 and employing IV fixed effects estimation techniques, we find that the impact of China’s import competition on innovation varies depending on the type of goods imported (intermediate vs. final). Specifically, imports of final goods boost both product and process innovation, while imports of intermediate goods reduce both. Additionally, we extend the analysis to consider the role of unions in moderating these responses. We find that, in unionized firms, imports' impact on innovation is mitigated, specifically to protect workers' employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | China’s Import Competition; Final and Intermediate Goods; Product and Process Innovation; Unions; IV Fixed effects estimations. JEL classification: C33, L25, F14, F60, O30, J50. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202502 |
| By: | Damián Tojeiro-Rivero (Employment observatory, Department of Economics, University Rovira i Virgili, Spain.); Rosina Moreno (AQR-IREA Research Group, Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | Prior literature has argued that, although both captive knowledge sourcing (CKS) and non-captive knowledge sourcing (NCKS) are effective strategies for enhancing firm innovativeness, the former plays a more defined role in determining the likelihood of a firm achieving product innovations. However, we contend that the focus should not only be on the decision to innovate but, more importantly, on the profitability firms derive from such innovations. Given that knowledge acquired from external sources can provide firms with ideas that differ from their existing competencies, NCKS may be more advantageous, as the resulting innovations are likely to exhibit higher levels of novelty. Additionally, we examine the complementarity or substitutability between CKS and NCKS in driving innovation. Our findings for Spanish firms suggest that NCKS yields greater benefits than CKS. Moreover, adopting both strategies simultaneously does not result in higher benefits; instead, a minimum threshold of NCKS, above the median, is necessary to realize observable gains. This indicates that firms must demonstrate a substantial level of commitment to NCKS to effectively exploit its potential for generating returns from their most novel innovations. |
| Keywords: | Radical Innovation, Captive Knowledge Sourcing; Non-Captive Knowledge Sourcing; Spanish firms; Panel data; Complementarity/Substitutability. JEL classification: |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202508 |
| By: | Roman Goncharenko (KU Leuven - Department of Accountancy, Finance and Insurance (AFI); Central Bank of Ireland); Mikhail Mamonov (TBS Business School); Steven Ongena (University of Zurich - Department Finance; Swiss Finance Institute; KU Leuven; NTNU Business School; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)); Svetlana Popova (The Central Bank of Russian Federation); Natalia Turdyeva (Bank of Russia) |
| Abstract: | How do firms respond to sudden and forcible closures of their lenders? Using unique credit register data from a setting where two-thirds of banks were closed within a decade, we find that neither bad nor good firms delay repayments or switch lenders before closures. Afterward, bad firms lose subsidized credit and experience sharp declines in employment, borrowing, and sales, while good firms improve performance. This divergence stems from banks’ prior underpricing of bad firms’ credit risk. Ultimately, good firms match with new solid banks, while bad firms gravitate toward not-yet-detected weak banks---especially where boards overlap or markets are unconcentrated. |
| Keywords: | Firms, Bank clean-up policies, Regulatory forbearance, Credit risk underpricing, Common board membership, Real effects |
| JEL: | G21 G28 G32 L25 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2552 |
| By: | Pajarinen, Mika; Rouvinen, Petri |
| Abstract: | Abstract This working paper investigates intangible investments in Finnish firms from 2014 to 2019, utilizing comprehensive, register-based data from Statistics Finland. We analyze seven categories of internal intangible investments and observe that these investments are highly concentrated, with the top 10% of investors accounting for approximately two-thirds of the total. However, this concentration is comparable to that of employment, value added, and tangible investments. Firms that invest in intangibles generally exhibit higher productivity levels. Specifically, organizational capital and new financial products demonstrate a positive and statistically significant correlation with labor productivity. These findings highlight the significance of intangible investments for firm performance and offer insights into their distribution patterns within the Finnish business sector. |
| Keywords: | Intangible investments, Finnish firms, Labor productivity, Concentration |
| JEL: | D22 L25 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2025–06–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:129 |