In this paper we study the effects of reforms to corporate and personal income taxation on the rate of firm entry and exit using industry data for 19 OECD countries from 1998 to 2005. Using a difference-in-differences approach to correct for endogeneity bias we find that increases in corporate...

Firms that lay far behind the technological frontier have the most to gain from imitating the technology or management practices of others. That some firms converge relatively slowly to the productivity frontier suggests the existence of factors that cause them to under-invest in their...

I study how entry barriers affect productivity by exploiting the collapse of the US sugar cartel as a natural experiment. Using difference-in-difference estimations, I find the eradication of entry barriers caused a 35% increase in productivity within the treatment group.

This paper studies the process of plant exit and productivity growth in Japan during the ‘lost decade’. A productivity decomposition shows the low rate of productivity growth at the aggregate level to be due to slow within plant productivity growth and a small contribution from the entry and...

Firms that lie far behind the technological frontier have the most to gain from imitating the technology or management practices of others. That some firms converge relatively slowly to the productivity frontier suggests the existence of factors that cause them to underinvest in their...

Do trade costs have consequences other than on the volume of international trade? In this paper we investigate whether countries’ trade costs act like other national endowments by affecting the composition of countries’ exports. Using an econometric approach that controls for endogeneity by...

The current recession has highlighted the potentially severe impact of shrinkages in demand and fiscal austerity upon firm entry and survival. Using data covering broad manufacturing and service sectors in 17 countries this paper investigates how changes in fiscal policy and market size affect...

In the literature there is substantial evidence that a plant is more likely to be closed down if it is owned by a firm with other plants or is owned by a multinational enterprise (MNE). But does ownership or multi-plant status matter for which plants are closed? Using Japanese data we study...