Corporate performances and market selection: some comparative evidence
利用意大利和法国工业企业面板数据，研究生产率、盈利能力与企业增长之间的关系，发现效率差异主要导致持久盈利差异，而增长与生产率或盈利能力的关联很弱，表明市场选择力量比通常假设的要弱。
Diverse theories of industry dynamics predict heterogeneity in production efficiency to be the driver of firms’ growth, survival, and industrial change, either through a direct link between efficiency and growth, or through an indirect effect via profitabilities, as more productive firms can enjoy higher profit margins which, under imperfect capital markets, allow them to invest and grow more. Does the empirical evidence bear out such predictions? This article explores the dynamics of selection and reallocation through an investigation of the relations linking productivity, profitability and growth at the firm level. Exploiting large panels of Italian and French industrial firms, we find that heterogeneity in efficiencies primarily yields persistent profitability differentials, whereas the relationships of corporate growth with either productivity or profitability appear much weaker, if at all existent. This suggests that selection forces are much less strong than usually assumed. The results robustly apply across different industrial sectors and across the two countries.