Scale Economies and Aggregate Productivity

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kariel, Joel, Savagar, Anthony
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Kariel, Joel
Savagar, Anthony
author_facet Kariel, Joel
Savagar, Anthony
contents We develop a theoretical framework to investigate the link between rising scale economies and stagnating productivity. Our model features heterogeneous firms, imperfect competition, and firm selection. We demonstrate that scale economies generated by fixed costs have distinct impacts on aggregate productivity compared to those driven by returns to scale (slope of marginal cost). Using UK data, we estimate long-run increases in both fixed costs and returns to scale. Our model implies that this should increase aggregate productivity through improved firm selection and resource allocation. However, increasing markups can offset the productivity gain. Higher markups cushion low-productivity firms' revenues, allowing them to survive, and constrain firm output, which limits exploitation of scale economies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_18461
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scale Economies and Aggregate Productivity
Kariel, Joel
Savagar, Anthony
General Economics
Economics
We develop a theoretical framework to investigate the link between rising scale economies and stagnating productivity. Our model features heterogeneous firms, imperfect competition, and firm selection. We demonstrate that scale economies generated by fixed costs have distinct impacts on aggregate productivity compared to those driven by returns to scale (slope of marginal cost). Using UK data, we estimate long-run increases in both fixed costs and returns to scale. Our model implies that this should increase aggregate productivity through improved firm selection and resource allocation. However, increasing markups can offset the productivity gain. Higher markups cushion low-productivity firms' revenues, allowing them to survive, and constrain firm output, which limits exploitation of scale economies.
title Scale Economies and Aggregate Productivity
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.18461