PT Unknown
AU Heinrich, T
   Dai, S
TI Diversity of Firm Sizes, Complexity, and Industry Structure in the Chinese Economy
SE Working Papers on East Asian Studies
PY 2015
VL 107
DI 10.17185/duepublico/41058
LA en
DE Firm size distribution; evolutionary industry dynamics; power-law distribution; China
AB Among the phenomena in economics that are not yet well-understood is the fat-tailed (power-law)
distribution of firm sizes in the world’s economies. Different mechanisms suggested in the literature
to explain this distribution of firm sizes are discussed in the present paper. The paper uses the
China Industrial Enterprises Database to study the distribution (firm size in terms of the number of
employees, capital, and gross profit) for the provinces of China for the years 1998–2008. We estimate
the power-law distribution and confirm its plausibility using the KS test and the log-likelihood ratio
vs. lognormal and exponential distributions. The analysis on regional levels allows an assessment of
regional effects on differences in the distribution; we discuss possible explanations for the observed
patterns in the light of the recent regional economic development in the PRC.
ER