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Production, depreciation and the size distribution of firms

Author

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  • Ma, Qi
  • Chen, Yongwang
  • Tong, Hui
  • Di, Zengru

Abstract

Many empirical researches indicate that firm size distributions in different industries or countries exhibit some similar characters. Among them the fact that many firm size distributions obey power-law especially for the upper end has been mostly discussed. Here we present an agent-based model to describe the evolution of manufacturing firms. Some basic economic behaviors are taken into account, which are production with decreasing marginal returns, preferential allocation of investments, and stochastic depreciation. The model gives a steady size distribution of firms which obey power-law. The effect of parameters on the power exponent is analyzed. The theoretical results are given based on both the Fokker–Planck equation and the Kesten process. They are well consistent with the numerical results.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma, Qi & Chen, Yongwang & Tong, Hui & Di, Zengru, 2008. "Production, depreciation and the size distribution of firms," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(13), pages 3209-3217.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:387:y:2008:i:13:p:3209-3217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.064
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fujiwara, Yoshi & Aoyama, Hideaki & Di Guilmi, Corrado & Souma, Wataru & Gallegati, Mauro, 2004. "Gibrat and Pareto–Zipf revisited with European firms," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 344(1), pages 112-116.
    2. Guilmi, Corrado Di & Gallegati, Mauro & Ormerod, Paul, 2004. "Scaling invariant distributions of firms’ exit in OECD countries," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 334(1), pages 267-273.
    3. Fujiwara, Yoshi & Di Guilmi, Corrado & Aoyama, Hideaki & Gallegati, Mauro & Souma, Wataru, 2004. "Do Pareto–Zipf and Gibrat laws hold true? An analysis with European firms," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 335(1), pages 197-216.
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    Cited by:

    1. Heinrich, Torsten & Yang, Jangho & Dai, Shuanping, 2020. "Growth, development, and structural change at the firm-level: The example of the PR China," MPRA Paper 105011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Murat ATAN & Emre BOZDAĞ, 2011. "Avrupa Karbonatlı İçecekler Piyasasında Firma Büyüklüğü Ve Büyüklük Genişleme Oranı İlişkisi," Ekonomik Yaklasim, Ekonomik Yaklasim Association, vol. 22(80), pages 19-38.

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