Optimal Export Taxes, Welfare, Industry Concentration, and Firm Size: A General Equilibrium Analysis

By using an imperfect-competition model, it is shown that an export tax, optimal in partial equilibrium, is upwardly biased and may not be optimal in a general equilibrium setting with free entry/exit. It is shown also that the export tax has an ambiguous impact on firm size. The results of an applied general equilibrium model for the Turkish economy suggest that the export tax estimated with the PE formula is larger by a small factor than the computed export tax. However, the export tax leads to an increase in firm size and, most importantly, to a social welfare loss.     

The Role of Expectation on Job Search and the Firm Size Effect on Wages

We formulate dynamic games which give a rationale to the firm size–wage effect that the sheer firm size increases wages. We postulate that past wages of large firms are known to new employees, while those of small firms are not. Large firms can credibly induce workers to expect high future wages and reduce turnover, while small firms have no choice but to be myopic and pay low wages. The equilibrium wage differential obtains under the same worker characteristics and production function. We provide empirical evidence that workers' expectations depend on firm size and affect wages as predicted by our model.     

Equilibrium Wage Dispersion,Firm Size,and Growth

This paper analyzes a model of equilibrium wage dynamics and wage dispersion across firms. It considers a labor market where firms set wages and workers use on-the-job search to look for better paid work. It analyzes a perfect equilibrium where each firm can change its wage paid at any time, and workers use optimal quit strategies. Firms trade off higher wages against a lower quit rate, and large firms (those with more employees) always pay higher wages than small firms. Non-steady-state dispersed price equilibria are also analyzed, which describe how wages vary as each firm and the industry as a whole grow over time. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D43, J41.     

Firm Size Distribution and Growth*

Abstract Empirical documentation of the sectoral distribution of firm size for a set of European countries reveals substantial differences. We study the relationship between productivity growth at the industry level and size structure. A positive and robust relation is found between average firm size and growth. We ask why size should matter for growth by considering the role of innovation to construct a test based on the differential effect of size on growth according to various indicators of R&D intensity. Our results indicate that larger size fosters productivity growth because it allows firms to take advantage of all the increasing returns associated with R&D. We argue that our test can be interpreted as a test of reverse causality, which lends support to the view that firm size has a causal impact on growth.     

Specialization, Transaction Efficiency, and Firm Size: Empirical Evidence

The paper provides some empirical evidence for the relationship between average firm size and the relative transaction efficiency and per capita income as hypothesized by Liu and Yang in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 42(2) (2000):145–65. The empirical data of 11 industries in Hong Kong from 1982 to 1999 are found to be broadly consistent with the predictions of Liu and Yang.     

审计重要性水平、事务所规模与审计意见

文章以财务重述公司为样本,探讨了审计重要性水平、事务所规模与审计意见之间的关系.研究发现,重要性水平影响审计意见的类型,超过重要性水平的错误更容易被出具非标意见;不同规模的事务所对重要性水平的执行标准是有差异的,规模大的事务所对超过重要性水平的错误更加敏感,"大所"在执行审计业务时,时超过重要性水平的错误报表更容易出具非标意见.研究结论支持"大所"出具的审计意见更严格、审计服务质量更高这一论断.     

企业规模、市场力量与创新:一个文献综述

自熊彼特提出创新理论以来,市场结构与创新之间的关系一直是经济学家们关注的热点问题之一。本文梳理了半个多世纪以来关于熊彼特假说的主要理论和实证文献。在实证文献综述中,从创新投入和创新产出两个维度,按照文献的发展脉络和逻辑关系,阐述了每篇文献的研究思路、研究方法、样本选择及主要结论。本文还简介了国内外学者对中国创新决定因素问题的研究。     

Legal Reform,Contract Enforcement and Firm Size in Mexico

The variation in legal system quality across states in Mexico is used to examine the relationship between judicial quality and firm size over the course of the 2000s, when systemic changes were taking place. Using economic census microdata and survey‐based measures of legal institutions, a robust effect of judicial quality is observed on the firm size distribution and efficiency, instrumenting for underlying historical determinants of institutions. Indicative evidence is found that the effect is strongest in more capital‐intensive industries. Market size and distance‐to‐market are also found to matter for firm size outcomes, consistent with the new trade literature.     

Optimal Lending Contracts and Firm Dynamics

We develop a general model of lending in the presence of endogenous borrowing constraints. Borrowing constraints arise because borrowers face limited liability and debt repayment cannot be perfectly enforced. In the model, the dynamics of debt are closely linked with the dynamics of borrowing constraints. In fact, borrowing constraints must satisfy a dynamic consistency requirement: the value of outstanding debt restricts current access to short-term capital, but is itself determined by future access to credit. This dynamic consistency is not guaranteed in models of exogenous borrowing constraints, where the ability to raise short-term capital is limited by some prespecified function of debt. We characterize the optimal default-free contract—which minimizes borrowing constraints at all histories—and derive implications for firm growth, survival, leverage and debt maturity. The model is qualitatively consistent with stylized facts on the growth and survival of firms. Comparative statics with respect to technology and default constraints are derived.     

Firm Size Distribution in Small Samples

Sutton (1998) has recently proposed a theoretical lower bound to firm size inequality when a market is made of several independent submarkets. His results are valid asymptotically, as the number of submarkets becomes arbitrarily large. We show that, in small samples, his results can be interpreted as a positive relationship between an index of firm size inequality and the number of submarkets. We also test this relationship in the Italian motor insurance market.     

Risk Preferences,Production Risk and Firm Heterogeneity*

A new technique is proposed for deriving the risk preference function under production risk and expected utility of profit maximization. The derivation depends on neither a specific parametric form of the utility function nor any distribution of the error term representing production risk. The proposed risk preference function is flexible enough to test different types of risk behavior and symmetry of the output distribution. Furthermore, our production risk specification allows for inputs with positive and negative marginal risk. The econometric model accommodates production risk, risk preferences and firm heterogeneity simultaneously. Norwegian salmon farming data are used as an application.     

市场规模、利润侵蚀和争取多产品跨国企业的政策竞争

本文考虑两个国家(或者地区)的政府为争取一家外国跨国企业直接投资(FDI)而进行的政策竞争。两国拥有不同的市场规模,跨国公司生产两种水平差别化产品。文章证明:均衡时跨国企业的FDI选择取决于市场规模效应(marketsize effect)、两种产品间的利润侵蚀效应(cannibalization effect)和两国FDI补贴政策的共同作用。在此基础上,本文进一步得到了政府间FDI竞争的福利含义。特别地,本文还证明了:两国福利可能因参与FDI竞争而获得帕累托严格改进,或者发生帕累托严格损失。     

企业规模研究的最新进展

学术界关于企业规模的研究文献大致可以归为四大类.第一类是关于企业规模分布的,主要讨论企业增长、规模以及最终的分布形式.第二类是关于企业规模报酬的,主要讨论企业的规模与其盈利性之间的关系.第三类是关于企业规模决定的,主要讨论企业规模(边界)的影响因素.第四类是关于企业规模极限的,主要讨论企业规模最大能有多大.本文集中讨论这四类文献在理论和经验方面的最新研究进展.     

Credit Rationing, Group Lending and Optimal Group Size

I develop a model of credit rationing with effort unobservable by lenders where borrowers can choose among projects of different riskiness. In such a set-up rationing that can be relaxed if borrowers put up physical collateral arises. Group lending proves to be a possible means to relax rationing and improve efficiency when physical collateral is not available. The optimal size of groups is here analysed as a function of social factors. It turns out that groups can be neither too small nor too large because in both cases the effectiveness of social sanctions on behaviour is too low to offset the negative effect on effort due to profit sharing and free riding. Individual sensitivity to social sanctions is the crucial element determining whether groups can be formed or not.     

Market Size and Firm Location in a Service Industry

This paper investigates the welfare effects of firm location in a service industry. We consider the situation where firms determine their locations in either of two regions with a difference in market size. From the viewpoint of the consumers' welfare, there are too few firms in the large market and too many in the small market. However, from the viewpoint of the producers' and social welfare, the opposite is true. Further, an increase in the difference in market size is unambiguously unfavorable for the producers. On the other hand, such an increase is favorable for the consumers and the economy as a whole.     

State Accountancy Regulations,Audit Firm Size,and Auditor Quality: An Empirical Investigation

This paper extends the literature on occupational licensing by examining the effect of states' licensing requirements for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). We related variations in licensing requirements across states to CPA firm based assessments of service quality. Based upon prior research, we also examined the relationship between service quality and a market generated quality indicator: CPA firm size. The results show no association between audit quality and variations in regulatory strictness. However, a positive relationship was found between audit quality and firm size, suggesting that market forces, rather than governmental intervention, is effective in addressing the information asymmetry that can exist between CPAs and their clients.     

Regulatory Optimal Bank Size

This paper presents a study of potential outcomes of bank growth. Banks grow by expanding market presence within the geographic region within which they are domiciled and by expanding presence into other regions via new implantations. Growth leads to improved diversification, but also results in an increase in the risk of catastrophe that a bank’s failure may engender. The conclusion is that there will exist a threshold size of bank at which the rate of growth in its systemic risk exceeds the rate of decline in its risk of insolvency. An empirical study of US bank call report data provides results that are consistent with the theory presented in the first part of the paper.

企业规模、市场结构与创新——来自不同行业的经验证据

本文利用2000~2003中国工业统计数据,选取其中的五个行业(电子、纺织、服装、化学和机械行业),研究企业规模、产业集中度等与创新的关系的行业差异。研究发现,企业规模、市场结构与创新之间一般不存在简单的线性关系。在不同的行业,它可以表现为U型或倒U型曲线。这种产业之间的差异表明,我们不能单纯地根据与企业规模有关的特性来解释企业创新。而对于产业结构,我们需要进行更加具体细致的调查和分析。单纯的产业集中度指标不足以完全反映产业的真实状况。     

Firm Size, Industry Mix and the Regional Transmission of Monetary Policy in Germany

Abstract. This paper estimates the impact of interest rate shocks on regional output in Germany over the period from 1970 to 2000. We use a vector autoregression (VAR) model to obtain impulse responses, which reveal differences in the output responses to monetary policy shocks across ten German provinces. Next, we investigate whether these differences can be related to structural features of the regional economies, such as industry mix, firm size, bank size and openness. An additional analysis of the volatility of real GDP growth for the period 1992–2000 includes the Eastern provinces. We also present evidence on the interrelationship between firm size and industry, and compare our measure of firm size with those used in previous studies. We conclude that the differential regional effects of monetary policy are related to industrial composition, but not to firm size or bank size.