La prochaine séance du séminaire Hotelling, commun au CES-ENS Cachan et à l’ADIS, se déroulera le jeudi 25 mai de 16h à 17h30, à Cachan. Nous aurons le plaisir de recevoir Robert Jensen (UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and NBER), qui présentera : “Market Size and the Growth of Firms: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India”.
Abstract :  In most developing countries, firms are on average very small, often do not grow as they age and have low productivity. We argue that one contributing factor to these outcomes is limited “effective” market size: due to information, search and transactions costs, many manufacturers serve only local consumers, making many industries a collection of small, independent and autarkic markets. We explore this hypothesis in the context of the artisanal boat building industry in Kerala, India, using a panel data set of builders and buyers (commercial fishermen). The spread of mobile phones in the late 1990s led some fishermen for the first time to buy boats built outside of their local area. Those firms that were the most productive ex-ante grew rapidly, gaining market share at the expense of less productive firms, with many of the latter exiting the market. On net, the industry shifts from a large number of very small firms, to a smaller number of larger firms. We also show that aggregate productivity of the sector increases, due to both the loss of market share (or exit) by less productive firms and increases in productivity for surviving incumbents.
Lieu du séminaire :
ENS Cachan – Amphithéâtre Fonteneau
Bâtiment d’Alembert (face entrée ENS) – 1er étage
61, avenue du président Wilson, Cachan
RER B Station Bagneux
Le programme du séminaire pour l’année 2012-2013 est ici et le plan d’accès pour vous rendre à l’ENS Cachan est là.
Cordialement,
Les organisateurs
Nathalie Etchart-Vincent
José de Sousa
Emmanuelle Taugourdeau