Firms Far Up! Productivity, Agglomeration and High-Growth Firms in Ethiopia

Grover, Arti

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: FIRM PRODUCTIVITY;    AGGLOMERATION ECONOMICS;    SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES;    HIGH-GROWTH FIRMS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-9099
RP-ID  :  WPS9099

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

High-growth firms have been widelystudied in advanced countries, but little is known aboutsuch stellar performers in Africa. Using establishment-leveldata from Ethiopia, this paper finds that the incidence ofhigh-growth firms stands at an average of 7 percent, afigure comparable to that of advanced countries. High-growthepisodes are short-lived, and the likelihood of survival ora subsequent episode is not any higher for high-growthfirms. It is difficult for firms to sustain high growth, andthe likelihood of a repeated episode is low. There is only a6.5 percent chance that a manufacturing plant in Ethiopiawill repeat a high-growth event in the subsequent three-yearperiod. This likelihood is not greater than that of plantsthat did not experience high growth in the previous period.The paper explores the drivers of high growth and finds atight link between exemplary performance and initial plantproductivity, which is robust to many controls, includingplant location. Plants located in Ethiopia's capitalcity or agglomerations have a higher probability of highgrowth. And high growth in plant employment is found to beself-reinforcing, that is, past high-growth experience ispositively and significantly associated with subsequentgrowth in firm productivity.