Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/177560 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
Texto para Discussão No. 2344
Publisher: 
Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), Brasília
Abstract (Translated): 
Using microdata of Brazilian firms from a longitudinal matched employee-employer data set (Rais) in the period from 1993 to 2013, this paper confirms that the middle part of the size distribution is "missing" in Brazil and apparently this feature is more intense than in other countries for which there are available results. Our analysis of the dynamics of employment over the life cycle of establishments provides some clues on why there is a missing middle in the size distribution. Considering a representative establishment, the results show that it is born small (perhaps too small) and that the pattern of the growth rate over its life cycle imposes a long time span to surpass the threshold of a mid-sized plant. Our results also indicate that age effects are the main component that explains the life cycle pattern of establishments. This result comes from the application of Deaton and Paxons (1994) decomposition method, which shows limited influence of year effects and birth-cohort effects.
Subjects: 
firm growth
firm size distribution
age-time-cohort decomposition
missing-middle
JEL: 
O14
O12
L25
L26
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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