Cross-Country Differences in Productivity: The Role of Allocation and Selection
利用多国企业数据，发现企业规模与生产率之间的行业内部协方差存在系统性跨国差异，并通过模型证明扭曲分布差异是导致这一现象及总体绩效差异的关键。
This paper investigates the effect of idiosyncratic (firm-level) policy distortions on aggregate outcomes. Exploiting harmonized firm-level data for a number of countries, we show that there is substantial and systematic cross-country variation in the within-industry covariance between size and productivity. We develop a model in which heterogeneous firms face adjustment frictions (overhead labor and quasi-fixed capital) and distortions. The model can be readily calibrated so that variations in the distribution of distortions allow matching the observed cross-country moments. We show that the differences in the distortions that account for the size-productivity covariance imply substantial differences in aggregate performance.