SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 100
Download to read offline
Granular Sources of the
Italian Business Cycle
Nicolò Gnocato Concetta Rondinelli
Banca d’Italia
Aim of this Research
A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013;
di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business
cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the
economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
Aim of this Research
A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013;
di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business
cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the
economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved
database);
Aim of this Research
A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013;
di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business
cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the
economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved
database);
The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this
regard:
Aim of this Research
A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013;
di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business
cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the
economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved
database);
The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this
regard:
1. the small size of businesses, on one hand, which would in principle weaken
the granular hypothesis,
Aim of this Research
A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013;
di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business
cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the
economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved
database);
The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this
regard:
1. the small size of businesses, on one hand, which would in principle weaken
the granular hypothesis,
2. the strong geographical firms’ agglomeration by sector of activity
(districts), which, on the other hand, could amplify the idiosyncratic
sources of aggregate fluctuations.
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Introduction
Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
Introduction
Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that
idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible
effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977).
Introduction
Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that
idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible
effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977).
Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective:
Introduction
Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that
idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible
effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977).
Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective:
a. If the firm size distribution is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the
economy is ”granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual
(large) firms will not average out and, instead, lead to
movements in the aggregates (Gabaix, 2011);
Introduction
Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that
idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible
effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977).
Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective:
a. If the firm size distribution is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the
economy is ”granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual
(large) firms will not average out and, instead, lead to
movements in the aggregates (Gabaix, 2011);
b. Idiosyncratic shocks to a single sector/firm can have sizeable
aggregate effects if the secotor/firm is interconnected with
others in the economy through input linkages: these linkages
propagate microeconomic shocks leading to positive
endogenous comovement (Acemoglu et al., 2012).
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual Framework
Consider an economy populated by n competitive firms, producing intermediate
and final goods using capital, labor and other intermediate inputs sourced from
one another;
Conceptual Framework
Consider an economy populated by n competitive firms, producing intermediate
and final goods using capital, labor and other intermediate inputs sourced from
one another;
If a Hicks-neutral, idosyncratic productivity shock ˜ωi = dωi /ωi hits firm i then,
according to Hulten (1978), the corresponding shock to aggregate TFP is given
by
˜Ω =
dΩ
Ω
=
n
i=1
Qi
Y
˜ωi
where Qi = firm i’s gross production value, Y = nominal aggregate value
added, and Qi /Y = “Domar” weight ( i (Qi /Y ) ≥ 1);
i.e. a change in firm i’s efficiency creates extra output which
can increase both aggregate value added and intermediate
goods’ supplies.
If we allow firm-level TFP shocks to be cross-sectionally correlated (Carvalho
and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) we have
σ2
˜Ωt
= σ2
Ft
=
i,j=1,...,n
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
ρij σi σj
where ρij =
cov(˜ωi ,˜ωj )
σi σj
, σi = var (˜ωi );
If we allow firm-level TFP shocks to be cross-sectionally correlated (Carvalho
and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) we have
σ2
˜Ωt
= σ2
Ft
=
i,j=1,...,n
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
ρij σi σj
where ρij =
cov(˜ωi ,˜ωj )
σi σj
, σi = var (˜ωi );
σ2
Ft
can accordingly be decomposed as follows
σ2
Ft
=
i,j=1,...,n
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
ρij σi σj =
=
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
DIRECT
+
i=j j
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
LINK
Conceptual Framework
Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect)
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
Conceptual Framework
Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect)
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is
“granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the
aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to
smaller units (Gabaix, 2011);
Conceptual Framework
Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect)
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is
“granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the
aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to
smaller units (Gabaix, 2011);
Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and
σ2
i = σ2 ∀i. Then
σ2
Ft
= σ2
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
= σ2
× Ht
where Ht = n
i=1 (Qit /Yt )2
denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy.
Conceptual Framework
Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect)
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is
“granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the
aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to
smaller units (Gabaix, 2011);
Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and
σ2
i = σ2 ∀i. Then
σ2
Ft
= σ2
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
= σ2
× Ht
where Ht = n
i=1 (Qit /Yt )2
denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy.
The more fat-tailed the firm-size distribution, the larger Ht and the
greater the aggregate TFP volatility originating from idiosyncratic shocks;
Conceptual Framework
Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect)
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
σ2
i
When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is
“granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the
aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to
smaller units (Gabaix, 2011);
Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and
σ2
i = σ2 ∀i. Then
σ2
Ft
= σ2
n
i=1
Qit
Yt
2
= σ2
× Ht
where Ht = n
i=1 (Qit /Yt )2
denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy.
The more fat-tailed the firm-size distribution, the larger Ht and the
greater the aggregate TFP volatility originating from idiosyncratic shocks;
Opposite extreme: economic activity symmetrically distributed across
firms (Qit = Yt /n)
σFt = σ/
√
n
the contribution of idiosyncratic shocks to aggregate volatility decays
rapidly as n increases.
Conceptual Framework
Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect)
i=j j
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
Conceptual Framework
Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect)
i=j j
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in
explaining aggregate volatility;
Conceptual Framework
Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect)
i=j j
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in
explaining aggregate volatility;
Cross-firm correlations can arise, for instance, from input-output linkages and/or
local labor market interactions;
Conceptual Framework
Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect)
i=j j
Qit
Yt
Qjt
Yt
cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in
explaining aggregate volatility;
Cross-firm correlations can arise, for instance, from input-output linkages and/or
local labor market interactions;
As shown by Acemoglu et al. (2012), idiosyncratic shocks to single sectors/firms
can be propagated through input-output linkages, leading to positive
endogenous comovement and, in turn, to aggregate fluctuations.
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
TFP growth rate
git = ωit − ωi,t−1
where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl
and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
TFP growth rate
git = ωit − ωi,t−1
where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl
and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed
effects
git = δjt + eit
and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock;
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
TFP growth rate
git = ωit − ωi,t−1
where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl
and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed
effects
git = δjt + eit
and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock;
Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by
size (Gabaix, 2011)
Et ≡
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
TFP growth rate
git = ωit − ωi,t−1
where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl
and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed
effects
git = δjt + eit
and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock;
Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by
size (Gabaix, 2011)
Et ≡
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
Similarly, for common-sector shocks, we define
∆t ≡
j
Yj,t−1
Yt−1
δjt
where Yj = i∈j Yi
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual
TFP growth rate
git = ωit − ωi,t−1
where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl
and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed
effects
git = δjt + eit
and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock;
Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by
size (Gabaix, 2011)
Et ≡
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
Similarly, for common-sector shocks, we define
∆t ≡
j
Yj,t−1
Yt−1
δjt
where Yj = i∈j Yi
NB: we use value added weights here since the TFP measure is value added
based (Domar weights used if gross output based).
Empirical Implementation
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility
Empirical Implementation
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility
Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first
order, by
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
git =
j
Yj,t−1
Yt−1
δjt +
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
Empirical Implementation
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility
Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first
order, by
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
git =
j
Yj,t−1
Yt−1
δjt +
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
For a given time period τ, weights are fixed at their τ − 1 values and combined
with shock from period t (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014)
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
git =
j
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
δjt +
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
Empirical Implementation
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility
Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first
order, by
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
git =
j
Yj,t−1
Yt−1
δjt +
i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
eit
For a given time period τ, weights are fixed at their τ − 1 values and combined
with shock from period t (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014)
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
git =
j
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
δjt +
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
Variance of aggregate TFP growth
σ2
Ωτ
= σ2
∆τ
+ σ2
Fτ
+ COVτ
σ2
∆τ
= Var


j
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
δjt

 σ2
Fτ
= Var
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
COVτ = Cov


j
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
δjt ,
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit


e.g., for each τ = 1, ..., T, σ2
Fτ
is the sample variance of the T realizations
(t = 1, ..., T) of i
Qi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni
et al., 2014)
σ2
Fτ=1
= Var
i
Yi0
Y0
eit
σ2
Fτ=2
= Var
i
Yi1
Y1
eit
...
e.g., for each τ = 1, ..., T, σ2
Fτ
is the sample variance of the T realizations
(t = 1, ..., T) of i
Qi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni
et al., 2014)
σ2
Fτ=1
= Var
i
Yi0
Y0
eit
σ2
Fτ=2
= Var
i
Yi1
Y1
eit
...
We use the standard deviation as our measure of volatility, and present the
results in terms of relative standard deviations σFτ /σΩτ and σ∆τ /σΩτ when
discussing contributions to aggregate volatility σΩτ .
Empirical Implementation
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Empirical Implementation
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Recall that firm-specific volatility σ2
Fτ
can be decomposed into a variance (or
direct) and a covariance (or linkages) contribution
σ2
Fτ
= Var
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
=
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
2
Var (eit )
DIRECT
+
i=j j
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
LINK
Empirical Implementation
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Recall that firm-specific volatility σ2
Fτ
can be decomposed into a variance (or
direct) and a covariance (or linkages) contribution
σ2
Fτ
= Var
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
=
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
2
Var (eit )
DIRECT
+
i=j j
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
LINK
We look at relative standard deviations
√
DIRECT/σFτ and
√
LINK/σFτ to
assess the relative contributions of the direct and linkages channels respectively.
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method
(PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets
Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method
(PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets
Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology;
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method
(PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets
Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology;
Final sample:
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method
(PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets
Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology;
Final sample:
1. Period: 1999–2014;
2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
Data
Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged
with info on number of employees from INPS;
Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method
(PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets
Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology;
Final sample:
1. Period: 1999–2014;
2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
3. Growth rate of TFP, git , winsorized at 5%.
Preliminary Statistics
Summary Statistics of Main Variables
Observations Mean St. Dev.
Value Added 3,597,015 1267.33 25335.86
Employees 3,597,015 22.38 287.54
Capital Stock 3,597,015 1344.78 36252.45
TFP 3,597,015 33.34 72.90
Value Added, Capital Stock and TFP: constant 2010 prices (thousand
euros). Employees: average number of workers employed across the year
according to INPS.
Preliminary Statistics
Firm-level Volatility by Size
St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing
Average 0.2938 0.2709
Size Percentile
0–20 0.3729 0.3441
21–40 0.3211 0.2837
41–60 0.2843 0.2582
61–80 0.2576 0.2407
81–100 0.2298 0.2249
Preliminary Statistics
Firm-level Volatility by Size
St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing
Average 0.2938 0.2709
Size Percentile
0–20 0.3729 0.3441
21–40 0.3211 0.2837
41–60 0.2843 0.2582
61–80 0.2576 0.2407
81–100 0.2298 0.2249
Larger firms have, on average, lower TFP volatility;
Preliminary Statistics
Firm-level Volatility by Size
St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing
Average 0.2938 0.2709
Size Percentile
0–20 0.3729 0.3441
21–40 0.3211 0.2837
41–60 0.2843 0.2582
61–80 0.2576 0.2407
81–100 0.2298 0.2249
Larger firms have, on average, lower TFP volatility;
Direct effect ( n
i=1(Yit /Yt )2σ2
i ) potentially dampened as to (Yit /Yt ) ↑
corresponds, on average, σi ↓.
Preliminary Statistics
Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks
Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation
Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000
Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870
Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608
Preliminary Statistics
Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks
Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation
Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000
Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870
Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608
Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not
automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level
(they could average out);
Preliminary Statistics
Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks
Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation
Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000
Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870
Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608
Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not
automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level
(they could average out);
On the other hand, observing that eit ’s average is 0, does not automatically
mean that idiosyncratic shocks do not matter at the aggregate level;
Preliminary Statistics
Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks
Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation
Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000
Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870
Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608
Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not
automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level
(they could average out);
On the other hand, observing that eit ’s average is 0, does not automatically
mean that idiosyncratic shocks do not matter at the aggregate level;
To answer whether they matter or not, we have to account for the firm-size
distribution (through weighted aggregation).
Preliminary Statistics
Aggregate TFP Growth
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
Preliminary Statistics
Aggregate TFP Growth
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics
of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that:
Preliminary Statistics
Aggregate TFP Growth
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics
of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that:
1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies;
Preliminary Statistics
Aggregate TFP Growth
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics
of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that:
1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies;
2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
Preliminary Statistics
Aggregate TFP Growth
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics
of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that:
1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies;
2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
3. We are focusing only on the intensive margin of firm TFP growth.
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Explanatory Power of Idiosyncratic Shocks
GDP Growtht Solow Residualt i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
git
Et 5.456∗∗ 5.814∗∗ 5.280∗∗ 5.286∗∗ 2.605∗∗ 2.766∗∗
(2.351) (2.465) (1.969) (2.218) (0.858) (0.925)
Et−1 0.184 -0.598 -2.085 -2.062 -0.719 -0.812
(2.263) (2.444) (1.895) (2.199) (0.826) (0.917)
Et−2 2.068 0.021 0.815
(2.393) (2.153) (0.898)
(Intercept) 0.021 0.026 0.008 0.009 -0.000 0.003
(0.012) (0.017) (0.010) (0.015) (0.005) (0.006)
N 14 13 14 13 14 13
R2 0.333 0.389 0.418 0.416 0.465 0.509
adj. R2 0.211 0.186 0.312 0.222 0.367 0.346
Standard errors in parentheses. Significance: ∗
0.10, ∗∗
0.05, ∗∗∗
0.01
Explanatory Power of Common Sectoral Shocks
GDP Growtht Solow Residualt i
Yi,t−1
Yt−1
git
∆t 2.603∗∗∗ 2.651∗∗∗ 2.304∗∗∗ 2.218∗∗∗ 1.142∗∗∗ 1.144∗∗∗
(0.363) (0.359) (0.337) (0.401) (0.081) (0.098)
∆t−1 0.691∗ 0.630∗ -0.152 -0.182 0.018 0.016
(0.362) (0.334) (0.336) (0.374) (0.081) (0.091)
∆t−2 0.081 -0.210 0.002
(0.357) (0.400) (0.098)
(Intercept) 0.012∗∗∗ 0.011∗∗ 0.004 0.003 -0.003∗∗∗ -0.003∗∗
(0.003) (0.004) (0.003) (0.004) (0.001) (0.001)
N 14 13 14 13 14 13
R2 0.827 0.878 0.814 0.819 0.948 0.948
adj. R2 0.796 0.837 0.780 0.759 0.938 0.931
Standard errors in parentheses. Significance: ∗
0.10, ∗∗
0.05, ∗∗∗
0.01
Volatility of Aggregate TFP Growth and its Components
A. Whole Economy
σ2
Ωτ
= σ2
∆τ
+ σ2
Fτ
+ COVτ
(a) Aggregate (b) Common-Sector (c) Idiosyncratic
Volatility of Aggregate TFP Growth and its Components
B. Manufacturing
σ2
Ωτ
= σ2
∆τ
+ σ2
Fτ
+ COVτ
(a) Aggregate (b) Common-Sector (c) Idiosyncratic
Aggregate Impact of Firm-Specific Shocks on Aggregate
Volatility
Whole Economy Manufacturing
St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD
A. 2000–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0076 1.0000 0.0261 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0032 0.4203 0.0079 0.3030
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0061 0.8090 0.0215 0.8271
B. 2000–2007
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0071 1.0000 0.0233 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.4394 0.0074 0.3156
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0054 0.7644 0.0181 0.7776
C. 2008–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0082 1.0000 0.0294 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0032 0.3986 0.0084 0.2886
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0069 0.8600 0.0255 0.8836
Averages ¯σΩ, ¯σF , and ¯σ∆ over different periods — ¯σΩ = 1
T τ σΩτ , ¯σF = 1
T τ σFτ ,
¯σ∆ = 1
T τ σ∆τ — and in relative terms w.r.t. ¯σΩ — 1
T τ
σFτ
σΩτ
, 1
T τ
σ∆τ
σΩτ
.
Contributions to firm-specific volatility
σ2
Fτ
= Var
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
eit
=
i
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
2
Var (eit )
DIRECT
+
i=j j
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
LINK
(a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
Contributions to firm-specific volatility
Whole Economy Manufacturing
St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD
A. 2000–2014
Firm-specific 0.0032 1.0000 0.0079 1.0000
Direct 0.0018 0.5894 0.0029 0.3709
Linkages 0.0026 0.7997 0.0073 0.9282
B. 2000–2007
Firm-specific 0.0031 1.0000 0.0074 1.0000
Direct 0.0017 0.5745 0.0027 0.3652
Linkages 0.0026 0.8091 0.0069 0.9305
C. 2008–2014
Firm-specific 0.0032 1.0000 0.0084 1.0000
Direct 0.0019 0.6064 0.0031 0.3775
Linkages 0.0026 0.7889 0.0078 0.9255
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Possible exercise: construct a simple counterfactual by artificially assuming that
all firms are of equal size (i.e. Yi,τ−1/Yτ−1 = 1/Nτ−1 ∀i).
2000–2014 2000–2007 2008–2014
St.Dev. Ratio St.Dev. Ratio St.Dev. Ratio
Direct 0.0018 1.00 0.0017 1.00 0.0019 1.00
Counterfactual 0.0007 2.78 0.0007 2.45 0.0006 3.16
Std.Dev. of counterfactual about 3 times smaller than actual direct component,
on average;
Evidence that the presence of a fat right tail in the firm size distribution does
matter when considering the direct contribution of firm-specific shocks to
aggregate fluctuations (but less than what found for, e.g., France due to smaller
average firm size in Italy).
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Other exercise: sectoral decomposition of the overall-economy direct
component; sector r’s direct component
DIRECTrτ =
i∈r
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
2
Var (eit )
so that DIRECTτ = r DIRECTrτ ;
More concentrated sectors (i.e. with higher Hrτ = i∈r Yi,τ−1/Yτ−1
2
)
display larger direct volatilities.
(a) 2001 (b) 2006 (c) 2011
Strongly positive correlation, but less than perfect because firm-level variances
differ both within and between sectors.
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity
Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from
input-output linkages?
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity
Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from
input-output linkages?
We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and
follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector
pairs
LINKrsτ =
i∈r j∈s
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ .
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity
Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from
input-output linkages?
We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and
follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector
pairs
LINKrsτ =
i∈r j∈s
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ .
Define mean intensity of IO linkages between sectors r and s as
IOrs =
1
2
[(1 − λr ) ρrs + (1 − λs ) ρsr ]
where λr = share of value added in sector r’s total output & ρrs = share of
inputs sourced domestically from sector s in sector r’s total domestic spending
on intermediates.
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity
Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from
input-output linkages?
We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and
follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector
pairs
LINKrsτ =
i∈r j∈s
Yi,τ−1
Yτ−1
Yj,τ−1
Yτ−1
Cov eit , ejt
so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ .
Define mean intensity of IO linkages between sectors r and s as
IOrs =
1
2
[(1 − λr ) ρrs + (1 − λs ) ρsr ]
where λr = share of value added in sector r’s total output & ρrs = share of
inputs sourced domestically from sector s in sector r’s total domestic spending
on intermediates.
Expect positive correlation between LINKrs and IOrs if comovement arises from
input-output linkages.
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration
Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement
between firms;
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration
Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement
between firms;
Proxy the extent of labor market pooling occurring between each pair of sectors
with a pseudo-Herfindahl index of concentration of economic activity across
Italian provinces
Hrs =
P
p=1
˜z2
p
with:
˜z2
p =
( i∈r∩p Li )( i∈s∩p Li )
( i∈r Li )( i∈s Li )
where Li = workers employed by firm i, p indexes Italian provinces, r and s
index sectors; in order to measure pooling between sectors r and s (not only
within either one of them), omit squared terms and keep only interaction terms
from z2
p = i∈r,s∩p Li
i∈r,s Li
2
;
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration
Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement
between firms;
Proxy the extent of labor market pooling occurring between each pair of sectors
with a pseudo-Herfindahl index of concentration of economic activity across
Italian provinces
Hrs =
P
p=1
˜z2
p
with:
˜z2
p =
( i∈r∩p Li )( i∈s∩p Li )
( i∈r Li )( i∈s Li )
where Li = workers employed by firm i, p indexes Italian provinces, r and s
index sectors; in order to measure pooling between sectors r and s (not only
within either one of them), omit squared terms and keep only interaction terms
from z2
p = i∈r,s∩p Li
i∈r,s Li
2
;
The resulting pseudo-Herfindahl measure ranges between 1/P and 1, and avoids
the potential issue of capturing high concentration in only one of the two
sectors.
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Results
More interconnected pairs of sectors (as measured from OECD IO tables, or labor
market concentration) significantly display higher linkages volatilities.
Pairwise correlations positive and highly significant for both mean IO intensity
and labor market interaction (more pronounced for the former);
LINKrs 2001 2006 2011
IOrs 0.4788∗∗∗ 0.4273∗∗∗ 0.3684∗∗∗
Hrs 0.2861∗∗∗ 0.2170∗∗∗ 0.3329∗∗∗
Partial contributions (standardized beta coefficients) coherently display higher
relevance and significance for mean IO intensity than for labor market pooling.
LINKrs 2001 2006 2011
IOrs 0.432∗∗∗ 0.400∗∗∗ 0.284∗∗∗
Hrs 0.132∗∗∗ 0.078∗ 0.228∗∗∗
N 528 528 528
R2 0.244 0.188 0.181
adj. R2 0.242 0.185 0.178
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Extensions and Robustness
1. LP shocks in place of TFP shocks:
isolate idiosyncratic shocks eit from
∆lpit = δst + eit
where lpit = ln (Yit /Lit ) and we also control for the growth rate in the capital
stock per employee ∆klit = ∆ln(Kit /Lit )
∆lpit = ∆klit + uit
∆lpit = uit
∆lpit = δst + eit
this should give eit (TFP-based) highly correlated with eit .
I. Productivity Growth
TFP LP LP’
Corr. with TFP growth 1.0000 0.9203 0.9881
II. Idiosyncratic Component
eit eit eit
Corr. with Idiosyncratic TFP growth 1.0000 0.9189 0.9881
Extensions and Robustness
1. LP based idiosyncratic shocks (controlling for K per employee)
Whole Economy Manufacturing
St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD
A. 2000–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0075 1.0000 0.0262 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.4094 0.0078 0.3007
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0061 0.8146 0.0217 0.8284
B. 2000–2007
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0071 1.0000 0.0233 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0030 0.4279 0.0073 0.3133
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0054 0.7637 0.0181 0.7785
C. 2008–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0081 1.0000 0.0296 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.3883 0.0084 0.2863
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0069 0.8728 0.0257 0.8855
Extensions and Robustness
2. Gross Output (GO) Based Shocks:
qit = αl lit + αk kit + αmmit + ˜ωit
˜git = ˜ωit − ˜ωi,t−1
When estimating yit = βl lit + βk kit + ωit (where yit = qit − mit ) we impose
αm = 1 (1:1 relationship b/w Q and M).
Direct implication: ωit larger, by construction, than ˜ωit .
Conceptually taken into account by aggregating with Domar weights, but there
still is the potential that GO based idiosyncratic shocks are not found to have a
significant impact on aggregate fluctuations.
Control for this issue by adopting a GO based specification, and proceeding with
Domar aggregation
˜gΩt|τ
=
i
Qi,τ−1
Yτ−1
˜git =
s
Qs,τ−1
Yτ−1
˜δst +
i
Qi,τ−1
Yτ−1
˜eit
Extensions and Robustness
2. Gross Output Based Shocks: Relative Standard Deviations
Whole Economy Manufacturing
St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD
A. 2000–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0080 1.0000 0.0279 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0021 0.2624 0.0068 0.2460
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0075 0.9413 0.0260 0.9304
B. 2000–2007
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0072 1.0000 0.0237 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0019 0.2650 0.0059 0.2505
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0066 0.9138 0.0213 0.8955
C. 2008–2014
Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0089 1.0000 0.0327 1.0000
Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0023 0.2593 0.0078 0.2408
Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0086 0.9727 0.0315 0.9703
Extensions and Robustness
3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks:
in the baseline specification, firms are not allowed to react to common shocks in
different ways.
Therefore, we might incorrectly interpret as idiosyncratic shocks what are,
instead, heterogeneous responses to common shocks.
To control for this: isolate idiosyncratic shocks from the following
git = δjt +
K
k=1
δjt × zkit + β Zit + eit
where firm-level characteristics Zit = (z1it , ..., zkit , ..., zKit ) include
(i) Size (number of employees quartile dummies);
(ii) Age (dummy for whether the firm is more or less than 5 years old)
(iii) Markups (estimated at firm-level as in De Loecker and Warzynski, 2012)
Extensions and Robustness
3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks: Relative Standard Deviations
I. Value Added Based Specification
Differing Sensitivity By:
Benchmark (i) Size (ii) Age (iii) Markup (iv) All
A. 2000–2014
0.4181 0.4107 0.4120 0.4107 0.3990
B. 2000–2007
0.4375 0.4206 0.4218 0.4247 0.3950
C. 2008–2014
0.3959 0.3994 0.4008 0.3948 0.4036
Extensions and Robustness
3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks: Relative Standard Deviations
II. Gross Output Based Specification
Differing Sensitivity by:
Benchmark (i) Size (ii) Age (iii) Markup∗ (iv) Markup∗∗ (v) All
A. 2000–2014
0.2621 0.2650 0.2664 0.2773 0.3133 0.2694
B. 2000–2007
0.2650 0.2648 0.2669 0.2824 0.3236 0.2785
C. 2008–2014
0.2588 0.2651 0.2657 0.2713 0.3016 0.2590
∗
Labor-based markups
∗∗
Materials-based markups
Outline
Introduction
Conceptual Framework
Empirical Implementation
Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011)
Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al.,
2014)
Data and Preliminary Statistics
Results
Granular Residual
Relative Standard Deviations
Channels for Firms’ Contributions
Direct Effect’s Contribution
Firm Linkages’ Contribution
Extensions and Robustness
Summing Up
Summing Up
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and
di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and
di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate
volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs
∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%);
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and
di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate
volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs
∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%);
The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that
of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis;
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and
di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate
volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs
∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%);
The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that
of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis;
The direct and linkages components are not mere aggregate by-products
of measurement error of TFP at the micro level: a counterfactual direct
component would have an impact 3 times smaller; more concentrated
sectors show higher direct volatilities as well; more interconnected couples
of sectors show higher linkages volatilities.
Summing Up
Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the
Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an
impact on aggregate fluctuations;
The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is
found to be around 30% across different specifications;
We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and
di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate
volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs
∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%);
The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that
of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis;
The direct and linkages components are not mere aggregate by-products
of measurement error of TFP at the micro level: a counterfactual direct
component would have an impact 3 times smaller; more concentrated
sectors show higher direct volatilities as well; more interconnected couples
of sectors show higher linkages volatilities.
Taken together, the results suggest that even in an economy such as the Italian
one —dominated by many small firms— firm-level idiosyncratic dynamics do
have an impact on the aggregate fluctuations.
Selected References
Acemoglu, D., V. M. Carvalho, A. Ozdaglar, and A. Tahbaz-Salehi (2012):
“The network origins of aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica, 80(5), 1977–2016.
Ackerberg, D. A., K. Caves, and G. Frazer (2015): “Identification properties of
recent production function estimators,” Econometrica, 83(6), 2411–2451.
Carvalho, V. and X. Gabaix (2013): “The great diversification and its undoing,”
The American Economic Review, 103(5), 1697–1727.
De Loecker, J. and F. Warzynski (2012): “Markups and firm-level export
status,” The American Economic Review, 102(6), 2437–2471.
di Giovanni, J., A. A. Levchenko, and I. M´ejean (2014): “Firms, destinations,
and aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica, 82(4), 1303–1340.
Gabaix, X. (2011): “The granular origins of aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica,
79(3), 733–772.
Hulten, C. R. (1978): “Growth accounting with intermediate inputs,” The Review
of Economic Studies, 45(3), 511–518.
Lucas, R. E. (1977): “Understanding Business Cycles,” Carnegie-Rochester
Conference Series on Public Policy, 5, 7–29.

More Related Content

Similar to Nicolò Gnocato, Concetta Rondinelli, Granular Sources of the Italian Business Cycle

Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock Market
Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock MarketCritical crashes in the Portuguese Stock Market
Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock MarketJorge Quiñones Borda
 
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and Destruction
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and DestructionA Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and Destruction
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and DestructionPalkansaajien tutkimuslaitos
 
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040Ssrn id1911492 code1641040
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040annabogd
 
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality Dr. Kelly YiYu Lin
 
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...ADEMU_Project
 
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011Waqas Tariq
 
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Fundación Ramón Areces
 
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...Ebi Sinteh
 
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses towards a systemic proposal.
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses  towards a systemic proposal.Cooperatives, communities and social businesses  towards a systemic proposal.
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses towards a systemic proposal.Alejo Etchart Ortiz
 

Similar to Nicolò Gnocato, Concetta Rondinelli, Granular Sources of the Italian Business Cycle (18)

Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock Market
Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock MarketCritical crashes in the Portuguese Stock Market
Critical crashes in the Portuguese Stock Market
 
World bank resilience crashes
World bank resilience crashesWorld bank resilience crashes
World bank resilience crashes
 
Pro-poor Growth.ppt
Pro-poor Growth.pptPro-poor Growth.ppt
Pro-poor Growth.ppt
 
Essay About Macroeconomics
Essay About MacroeconomicsEssay About Macroeconomics
Essay About Macroeconomics
 
Aghion howitt1990
Aghion howitt1990Aghion howitt1990
Aghion howitt1990
 
G026052065
G026052065G026052065
G026052065
 
Econometrics project
Econometrics projectEconometrics project
Econometrics project
 
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and Destruction
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and DestructionA Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and Destruction
A Selective Survey to the Literature on Job Creation and Destruction
 
0973801018800087
09738010188000870973801018800087
0973801018800087
 
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040Ssrn id1911492 code1641040
Ssrn id1911492 code1641040
 
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality
The Importance of Parameter Constancy for Endogenous Growth with Externality
 
Trade openness and city size whit taste heterogeneity and amenities
Trade openness and city size whit taste heterogeneity and amenitiesTrade openness and city size whit taste heterogeneity and amenities
Trade openness and city size whit taste heterogeneity and amenities
 
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...
The Heterogenous Effects of Government Spending - by Axelle Ferriere and Gast...
 
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011
Distribution of Nairobi Stock Exchange 20 Share Index Returns: 1998-2011
 
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
Jonathan D. Ostry - Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI).
 
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...
Is the notion of sustainable enterprise economies a luxury for the developed ...
 
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses towards a systemic proposal.
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses  towards a systemic proposal.Cooperatives, communities and social businesses  towards a systemic proposal.
Cooperatives, communities and social businesses towards a systemic proposal.
 
Australia covid
Australia covidAustralia covid
Australia covid
 

More from Istituto nazionale di statistica

More from Istituto nazionale di statistica (20)

Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profitCensimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
Censimenti Permanenti Istituzioni non profit
 
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni PubblicheCensimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
 
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni PubblicheCensimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
 
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni PubblicheCensimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
 
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni PubblicheCensimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
Censimento Permanente Istituzioni Pubbliche
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statisticacnstatistica14
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statisticacnstatistica1414a Conferenza Nazionale di Statisticacnstatistica14
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statisticacnstatistica14
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
14a Conferenza Nazionale di Statistica
 

Recently uploaded

2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx
2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx
2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptxMaritesTamaniVerdade
 
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...Nguyen Thanh Tu Collection
 
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy Consulting
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy ConsultingGrant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy Consulting
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy ConsultingTechSoup
 
PROCESS RECORDING FORMAT.docx
PROCESS      RECORDING        FORMAT.docxPROCESS      RECORDING        FORMAT.docx
PROCESS RECORDING FORMAT.docxPoojaSen20
 
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptx
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptxUnit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptx
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptxVishalSingh1417
 
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdf
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdfHoldier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdf
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdfagholdier
 
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.christianmathematics
 
psychiatric nursing HISTORY COLLECTION .docx
psychiatric  nursing HISTORY  COLLECTION  .docxpsychiatric  nursing HISTORY  COLLECTION  .docx
psychiatric nursing HISTORY COLLECTION .docxPoojaSen20
 
1029 - Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf
1029 -  Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf1029 -  Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf
1029 - Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdfQucHHunhnh
 
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdfWeb & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdfJayanti Pande
 
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdf
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdfKey note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdf
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdfAdmir Softic
 
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot GraphZ Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot GraphThiyagu K
 
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.MaryamAhmad92
 
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17Celine George
 
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptxSeal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptxnegromaestrong
 
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17 How to Extend Models Using Mixin Classes
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17  How to Extend Models Using Mixin ClassesMixin Classes in Odoo 17  How to Extend Models Using Mixin Classes
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17 How to Extend Models Using Mixin ClassesCeline George
 
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdf
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdfMaking and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdf
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdfChris Hunter
 
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptxBasic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptxDenish Jangid
 
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptx
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptxRole Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptx
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptxNikitaBankoti2
 
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...christianmathematics
 

Recently uploaded (20)

2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx
2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx
2024-NATIONAL-LEARNING-CAMP-AND-OTHER.pptx
 
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...
TỔNG ÔN TẬP THI VÀO LỚP 10 MÔN TIẾNG ANH NĂM HỌC 2023 - 2024 CÓ ĐÁP ÁN (NGỮ Â...
 
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy Consulting
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy ConsultingGrant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy Consulting
Grant Readiness 101 TechSoup and Remy Consulting
 
PROCESS RECORDING FORMAT.docx
PROCESS      RECORDING        FORMAT.docxPROCESS      RECORDING        FORMAT.docx
PROCESS RECORDING FORMAT.docx
 
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptx
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptxUnit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptx
Unit-IV; Professional Sales Representative (PSR).pptx
 
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdf
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdfHoldier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdf
Holdier Curriculum Vitae (April 2024).pdf
 
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
 
psychiatric nursing HISTORY COLLECTION .docx
psychiatric  nursing HISTORY  COLLECTION  .docxpsychiatric  nursing HISTORY  COLLECTION  .docx
psychiatric nursing HISTORY COLLECTION .docx
 
1029 - Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf
1029 -  Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf1029 -  Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf
1029 - Danh muc Sach Giao Khoa 10 . pdf
 
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdfWeb & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
 
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdf
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdfKey note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdf
Key note speaker Neum_Admir Softic_ENG.pdf
 
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot GraphZ Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
 
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
ICT role in 21st century education and it's challenges.
 
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17
How to Give a Domain for a Field in Odoo 17
 
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptxSeal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) 2024Final.pptx
 
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17 How to Extend Models Using Mixin Classes
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17  How to Extend Models Using Mixin ClassesMixin Classes in Odoo 17  How to Extend Models Using Mixin Classes
Mixin Classes in Odoo 17 How to Extend Models Using Mixin Classes
 
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdf
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdfMaking and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdf
Making and Justifying Mathematical Decisions.pdf
 
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptxBasic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
 
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptx
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptxRole Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptx
Role Of Transgenic Animal In Target Validation-1.pptx
 
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...
Explore beautiful and ugly buildings. Mathematics helps us create beautiful d...
 

Nicolò Gnocato, Concetta Rondinelli, Granular Sources of the Italian Business Cycle

  • 1. Granular Sources of the Italian Business Cycle Nicolò Gnocato Concetta Rondinelli Banca d’Italia
  • 2. Aim of this Research A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics;
  • 3. Aim of this Research A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics; We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved database);
  • 4. Aim of this Research A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics; We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved database); The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this regard:
  • 5. Aim of this Research A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics; We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved database); The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this regard: 1. the small size of businesses, on one hand, which would in principle weaken the granular hypothesis,
  • 6. Aim of this Research A recent stream of literature (Gabaix, 2011; Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) has investigated the granular sources of the business cycle, i.e. the hypothesis according to which a small group of firms in the economy, usually the largest, drive aggregate dynamics; We test this hypothesis on Italian firms’ microdata (retrieved from the Cerved database); The Italian manufacturing productive system has two features of interest to this regard: 1. the small size of businesses, on one hand, which would in principle weaken the granular hypothesis, 2. the strong geographical firms’ agglomeration by sector of activity (districts), which, on the other hand, could amplify the idiosyncratic sources of aggregate fluctuations.
  • 7. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 8. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 9. Introduction Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations?
  • 10. Introduction Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations? The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977).
  • 11. Introduction Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations? The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977). Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective:
  • 12. Introduction Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations? The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977). Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective: a. If the firm size distribution is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is ”granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual (large) firms will not average out and, instead, lead to movements in the aggregates (Gabaix, 2011);
  • 13. Introduction Do firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations? The predominant tradition in macroeconomics has long assumed that idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms average out and thus have negligible effects at the aggregate level (Lucas, 1977). Two recent strands of literature have started challenging this perspective: a. If the firm size distribution is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is ”granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual (large) firms will not average out and, instead, lead to movements in the aggregates (Gabaix, 2011); b. Idiosyncratic shocks to a single sector/firm can have sizeable aggregate effects if the secotor/firm is interconnected with others in the economy through input linkages: these linkages propagate microeconomic shocks leading to positive endogenous comovement (Acemoglu et al., 2012).
  • 14. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 16. Conceptual Framework Consider an economy populated by n competitive firms, producing intermediate and final goods using capital, labor and other intermediate inputs sourced from one another;
  • 17. Conceptual Framework Consider an economy populated by n competitive firms, producing intermediate and final goods using capital, labor and other intermediate inputs sourced from one another; If a Hicks-neutral, idosyncratic productivity shock ˜ωi = dωi /ωi hits firm i then, according to Hulten (1978), the corresponding shock to aggregate TFP is given by ˜Ω = dΩ Ω = n i=1 Qi Y ˜ωi where Qi = firm i’s gross production value, Y = nominal aggregate value added, and Qi /Y = “Domar” weight ( i (Qi /Y ) ≥ 1); i.e. a change in firm i’s efficiency creates extra output which can increase both aggregate value added and intermediate goods’ supplies.
  • 18. If we allow firm-level TFP shocks to be cross-sectionally correlated (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) we have σ2 ˜Ωt = σ2 Ft = i,j=1,...,n Qit Yt Qjt Yt ρij σi σj where ρij = cov(˜ωi ,˜ωj ) σi σj , σi = var (˜ωi );
  • 19. If we allow firm-level TFP shocks to be cross-sectionally correlated (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) we have σ2 ˜Ωt = σ2 Ft = i,j=1,...,n Qit Yt Qjt Yt ρij σi σj where ρij = cov(˜ωi ,˜ωj ) σi σj , σi = var (˜ωi ); σ2 Ft can accordingly be decomposed as follows σ2 Ft = i,j=1,...,n Qit Yt Qjt Yt ρij σi σj = = n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i DIRECT + i=j j Qit Yt Qjt Yt cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj LINK
  • 20. Conceptual Framework Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect) n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i
  • 21. Conceptual Framework Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect) n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is “granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to smaller units (Gabaix, 2011);
  • 22. Conceptual Framework Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect) n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is “granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to smaller units (Gabaix, 2011); Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and σ2 i = σ2 ∀i. Then σ2 Ft = σ2 n i=1 Qit Yt 2 = σ2 × Ht where Ht = n i=1 (Qit /Yt )2 denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy.
  • 23. Conceptual Framework Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect) n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is “granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to smaller units (Gabaix, 2011); Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and σ2 i = σ2 ∀i. Then σ2 Ft = σ2 n i=1 Qit Yt 2 = σ2 × Ht where Ht = n i=1 (Qit /Yt )2 denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy. The more fat-tailed the firm-size distribution, the larger Ht and the greater the aggregate TFP volatility originating from idiosyncratic shocks;
  • 24. Conceptual Framework Variance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (direct effect) n i=1 Qit Yt 2 σ2 i When the distribution of firm size is sufficiently fat-tailed (i.e. the economy is “granular”), idiosyncratic shocks to individual firms do not wash out at the aggregate level, because shocks to large firms do not cancel out with shocks to smaller units (Gabaix, 2011); Simple illustration: uncorrelated shocks (cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj = 0 ∀i, j) and σ2 i = σ2 ∀i. Then σ2 Ft = σ2 n i=1 Qit Yt 2 = σ2 × Ht where Ht = n i=1 (Qit /Yt )2 denotes the Herfindahl index of the economy. The more fat-tailed the firm-size distribution, the larger Ht and the greater the aggregate TFP volatility originating from idiosyncratic shocks; Opposite extreme: economic activity symmetrically distributed across firms (Qit = Yt /n) σFt = σ/ √ n the contribution of idiosyncratic shocks to aggregate volatility decays rapidly as n increases.
  • 25. Conceptual Framework Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect) i=j j Qit Yt Qjt Yt cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj
  • 26. Conceptual Framework Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect) i=j j Qit Yt Qjt Yt cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in explaining aggregate volatility;
  • 27. Conceptual Framework Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect) i=j j Qit Yt Qjt Yt cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in explaining aggregate volatility; Cross-firm correlations can arise, for instance, from input-output linkages and/or local labor market interactions;
  • 28. Conceptual Framework Covariance Contribution to Aggregate TFP Shocks (linkages effect) i=j j Qit Yt Qjt Yt cov ˜ωi , ˜ωj The covariance term captures the contribution of comovement across firms in explaining aggregate volatility; Cross-firm correlations can arise, for instance, from input-output linkages and/or local labor market interactions; As shown by Acemoglu et al. (2012), idiosyncratic shocks to single sectors/firms can be propagated through input-output linkages, leading to positive endogenous comovement and, in turn, to aggregate fluctuations.
  • 29. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 31. Empirical Implementation Granular Residual TFP growth rate git = ωit − ωi,t−1 where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015);
  • 32. Empirical Implementation Granular Residual TFP growth rate git = ωit − ωi,t−1 where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015); The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed effects git = δjt + eit and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock;
  • 33. Empirical Implementation Granular Residual TFP growth rate git = ωit − ωi,t−1 where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015); The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed effects git = δjt + eit and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock; Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by size (Gabaix, 2011) Et ≡ i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit
  • 34. Empirical Implementation Granular Residual TFP growth rate git = ωit − ωi,t−1 where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015); The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed effects git = δjt + eit and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock; Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by size (Gabaix, 2011) Et ≡ i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit Similarly, for common-sector shocks, we define ∆t ≡ j Yj,t−1 Yt−1 δjt where Yj = i∈j Yi
  • 35. Empirical Implementation Granular Residual TFP growth rate git = ωit − ωi,t−1 where ωit is the log of firm-level productivity: ωit = yit − ˆβl lit − ˆβk kit , with ˆβl and ˆβk estimated through the methodology proposed by Ackerberg et al. (2015); The cross-section of git ’s in a given year is regressed on a set of sector fixed effects git = δjt + eit and the residual eit is retained as the firm-specific shock; Define the Granular Residual as the sum of idiosyncratic shocks, eit , weighted by size (Gabaix, 2011) Et ≡ i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit Similarly, for common-sector shocks, we define ∆t ≡ j Yj,t−1 Yt−1 δjt where Yj = i∈j Yi NB: we use value added weights here since the TFP measure is value added based (Domar weights used if gross output based).
  • 36. Empirical Implementation Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility
  • 37. Empirical Implementation Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first order, by i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 git = j Yj,t−1 Yt−1 δjt + i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit
  • 38. Empirical Implementation Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first order, by i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 git = j Yj,t−1 Yt−1 δjt + i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit For a given time period τ, weights are fixed at their τ − 1 values and combined with shock from period t (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 git = j Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 δjt + i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit
  • 39. Empirical Implementation Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility Aggregate TFP growth at the intensive margin can be approximated, to a first order, by i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 git = j Yj,t−1 Yt−1 δjt + i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 eit For a given time period τ, weights are fixed at their τ − 1 values and combined with shock from period t (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 git = j Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 δjt + i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit Variance of aggregate TFP growth σ2 Ωτ = σ2 ∆τ + σ2 Fτ + COVτ σ2 ∆τ = Var   j Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 δjt   σ2 Fτ = Var i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit COVτ = Cov   j Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 δjt , i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit  
  • 40. e.g., for each τ = 1, ..., T, σ2 Fτ is the sample variance of the T realizations (t = 1, ..., T) of i Qi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) σ2 Fτ=1 = Var i Yi0 Y0 eit σ2 Fτ=2 = Var i Yi1 Y1 eit ...
  • 41. e.g., for each τ = 1, ..., T, σ2 Fτ is the sample variance of the T realizations (t = 1, ..., T) of i Qi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit (Carvalho and Gabaix, 2013; di Giovanni et al., 2014) σ2 Fτ=1 = Var i Yi0 Y0 eit σ2 Fτ=2 = Var i Yi1 Y1 eit ... We use the standard deviation as our measure of volatility, and present the results in terms of relative standard deviations σFτ /σΩτ and σ∆τ /σΩτ when discussing contributions to aggregate volatility σΩτ .
  • 42. Empirical Implementation Channels for Firms’ Contributions
  • 43. Empirical Implementation Channels for Firms’ Contributions Recall that firm-specific volatility σ2 Fτ can be decomposed into a variance (or direct) and a covariance (or linkages) contribution σ2 Fτ = Var i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit = i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 2 Var (eit ) DIRECT + i=j j Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt LINK
  • 44. Empirical Implementation Channels for Firms’ Contributions Recall that firm-specific volatility σ2 Fτ can be decomposed into a variance (or direct) and a covariance (or linkages) contribution σ2 Fτ = Var i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit = i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 2 Var (eit ) DIRECT + i=j j Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt LINK We look at relative standard deviations √ DIRECT/σFτ and √ LINK/σFτ to assess the relative contributions of the direct and linkages channels respectively.
  • 45. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 46. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS;
  • 47. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS; Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It
  • 48. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS; Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology;
  • 49. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS; Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology; Final sample:
  • 50. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS; Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology; Final sample: 1. Period: 1999–2014; 2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
  • 51. Data Italian limited liability companies’ balance sheets data from CERVED merged with info on number of employees from INPS; Real Capital Stock constructed by means of a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM), correcting initial book values and investments for re-evaluation of assets Kt = (1 − δ)Kt−1 + It Firm-level TFP estimated with the Ackerberg et al. (2015) methodology; Final sample: 1. Period: 1999–2014; 2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis; 3. Growth rate of TFP, git , winsorized at 5%.
  • 52. Preliminary Statistics Summary Statistics of Main Variables Observations Mean St. Dev. Value Added 3,597,015 1267.33 25335.86 Employees 3,597,015 22.38 287.54 Capital Stock 3,597,015 1344.78 36252.45 TFP 3,597,015 33.34 72.90 Value Added, Capital Stock and TFP: constant 2010 prices (thousand euros). Employees: average number of workers employed across the year according to INPS.
  • 53. Preliminary Statistics Firm-level Volatility by Size St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing Average 0.2938 0.2709 Size Percentile 0–20 0.3729 0.3441 21–40 0.3211 0.2837 41–60 0.2843 0.2582 61–80 0.2576 0.2407 81–100 0.2298 0.2249
  • 54. Preliminary Statistics Firm-level Volatility by Size St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing Average 0.2938 0.2709 Size Percentile 0–20 0.3729 0.3441 21–40 0.3211 0.2837 41–60 0.2843 0.2582 61–80 0.2576 0.2407 81–100 0.2298 0.2249 Larger firms have, on average, lower TFP volatility;
  • 55. Preliminary Statistics Firm-level Volatility by Size St.Dev. Whole Economy Manufacturing Average 0.2938 0.2709 Size Percentile 0–20 0.3729 0.3441 21–40 0.3211 0.2837 41–60 0.2843 0.2582 61–80 0.2576 0.2407 81–100 0.2298 0.2249 Larger firms have, on average, lower TFP volatility; Direct effect ( n i=1(Yit /Yt )2σ2 i ) potentially dampened as to (Yit /Yt ) ↑ corresponds, on average, σi ↓.
  • 56. Preliminary Statistics Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000 Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870 Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608
  • 57. Preliminary Statistics Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000 Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870 Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608 Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level (they could average out);
  • 58. Preliminary Statistics Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000 Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870 Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608 Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level (they could average out); On the other hand, observing that eit ’s average is 0, does not automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks do not matter at the aggregate level;
  • 59. Preliminary Statistics Summary Statictics and Correlations of Shocks Obs. Mean St.Dev. Correlation Actual (git) 3,178,447 -0.0201 0.3096 1.0000 Firm-specific (eit) 3,178,447 0.0000 0.3056 0.9870 Common (δst) 1,140 -0.0202 0.0496 0.1608 Simply observing high correlation, at firm-level, between git and eit does not automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks matter more at the aggregate level (they could average out); On the other hand, observing that eit ’s average is 0, does not automatically mean that idiosyncratic shocks do not matter at the aggregate level; To answer whether they matter or not, we have to account for the firm-size distribution (through weighted aggregation).
  • 60. Preliminary Statistics Aggregate TFP Growth (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
  • 61. Preliminary Statistics Aggregate TFP Growth (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that:
  • 62. Preliminary Statistics Aggregate TFP Growth (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that: 1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies;
  • 63. Preliminary Statistics Aggregate TFP Growth (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that: 1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies; 2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis;
  • 64. Preliminary Statistics Aggregate TFP Growth (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing The CERVED (sub)sample seems to do a good job in following TFP dynamics of aggregate data, especially for manufacturing; also recall that: 1. CERVED only includes limited liability companies; 2. Firms with gaps in relevant variables are excluded from the analysis; 3. We are focusing only on the intensive margin of firm TFP growth.
  • 65. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 66. Explanatory Power of Idiosyncratic Shocks GDP Growtht Solow Residualt i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 git Et 5.456∗∗ 5.814∗∗ 5.280∗∗ 5.286∗∗ 2.605∗∗ 2.766∗∗ (2.351) (2.465) (1.969) (2.218) (0.858) (0.925) Et−1 0.184 -0.598 -2.085 -2.062 -0.719 -0.812 (2.263) (2.444) (1.895) (2.199) (0.826) (0.917) Et−2 2.068 0.021 0.815 (2.393) (2.153) (0.898) (Intercept) 0.021 0.026 0.008 0.009 -0.000 0.003 (0.012) (0.017) (0.010) (0.015) (0.005) (0.006) N 14 13 14 13 14 13 R2 0.333 0.389 0.418 0.416 0.465 0.509 adj. R2 0.211 0.186 0.312 0.222 0.367 0.346 Standard errors in parentheses. Significance: ∗ 0.10, ∗∗ 0.05, ∗∗∗ 0.01
  • 67. Explanatory Power of Common Sectoral Shocks GDP Growtht Solow Residualt i Yi,t−1 Yt−1 git ∆t 2.603∗∗∗ 2.651∗∗∗ 2.304∗∗∗ 2.218∗∗∗ 1.142∗∗∗ 1.144∗∗∗ (0.363) (0.359) (0.337) (0.401) (0.081) (0.098) ∆t−1 0.691∗ 0.630∗ -0.152 -0.182 0.018 0.016 (0.362) (0.334) (0.336) (0.374) (0.081) (0.091) ∆t−2 0.081 -0.210 0.002 (0.357) (0.400) (0.098) (Intercept) 0.012∗∗∗ 0.011∗∗ 0.004 0.003 -0.003∗∗∗ -0.003∗∗ (0.003) (0.004) (0.003) (0.004) (0.001) (0.001) N 14 13 14 13 14 13 R2 0.827 0.878 0.814 0.819 0.948 0.948 adj. R2 0.796 0.837 0.780 0.759 0.938 0.931 Standard errors in parentheses. Significance: ∗ 0.10, ∗∗ 0.05, ∗∗∗ 0.01
  • 68. Volatility of Aggregate TFP Growth and its Components A. Whole Economy σ2 Ωτ = σ2 ∆τ + σ2 Fτ + COVτ (a) Aggregate (b) Common-Sector (c) Idiosyncratic
  • 69. Volatility of Aggregate TFP Growth and its Components B. Manufacturing σ2 Ωτ = σ2 ∆τ + σ2 Fτ + COVτ (a) Aggregate (b) Common-Sector (c) Idiosyncratic
  • 70. Aggregate Impact of Firm-Specific Shocks on Aggregate Volatility Whole Economy Manufacturing St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD A. 2000–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0076 1.0000 0.0261 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0032 0.4203 0.0079 0.3030 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0061 0.8090 0.0215 0.8271 B. 2000–2007 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0071 1.0000 0.0233 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.4394 0.0074 0.3156 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0054 0.7644 0.0181 0.7776 C. 2008–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0082 1.0000 0.0294 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0032 0.3986 0.0084 0.2886 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0069 0.8600 0.0255 0.8836 Averages ¯σΩ, ¯σF , and ¯σ∆ over different periods — ¯σΩ = 1 T τ σΩτ , ¯σF = 1 T τ σFτ , ¯σ∆ = 1 T τ σ∆τ — and in relative terms w.r.t. ¯σΩ — 1 T τ σFτ σΩτ , 1 T τ σ∆τ σΩτ .
  • 71. Contributions to firm-specific volatility σ2 Fτ = Var i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 eit = i Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 2 Var (eit ) DIRECT + i=j j Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt LINK (a) Whole Economy (b) Manufacturing
  • 72. Contributions to firm-specific volatility Whole Economy Manufacturing St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD A. 2000–2014 Firm-specific 0.0032 1.0000 0.0079 1.0000 Direct 0.0018 0.5894 0.0029 0.3709 Linkages 0.0026 0.7997 0.0073 0.9282 B. 2000–2007 Firm-specific 0.0031 1.0000 0.0074 1.0000 Direct 0.0017 0.5745 0.0027 0.3652 Linkages 0.0026 0.8091 0.0069 0.9305 C. 2008–2014 Firm-specific 0.0032 1.0000 0.0084 1.0000 Direct 0.0019 0.6064 0.0031 0.3775 Linkages 0.0026 0.7889 0.0078 0.9255
  • 73. Direct Effect’s Contribution Possible exercise: construct a simple counterfactual by artificially assuming that all firms are of equal size (i.e. Yi,τ−1/Yτ−1 = 1/Nτ−1 ∀i). 2000–2014 2000–2007 2008–2014 St.Dev. Ratio St.Dev. Ratio St.Dev. Ratio Direct 0.0018 1.00 0.0017 1.00 0.0019 1.00 Counterfactual 0.0007 2.78 0.0007 2.45 0.0006 3.16 Std.Dev. of counterfactual about 3 times smaller than actual direct component, on average; Evidence that the presence of a fat right tail in the firm size distribution does matter when considering the direct contribution of firm-specific shocks to aggregate fluctuations (but less than what found for, e.g., France due to smaller average firm size in Italy).
  • 74. Direct Effect’s Contribution Other exercise: sectoral decomposition of the overall-economy direct component; sector r’s direct component DIRECTrτ = i∈r Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 2 Var (eit ) so that DIRECTτ = r DIRECTrτ ; More concentrated sectors (i.e. with higher Hrτ = i∈r Yi,τ−1/Yτ−1 2 ) display larger direct volatilities. (a) 2001 (b) 2006 (c) 2011 Strongly positive correlation, but less than perfect because firm-level variances differ both within and between sectors.
  • 75. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from input-output linkages?
  • 76. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from input-output linkages? We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector pairs LINKrsτ = i∈r j∈s Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ .
  • 77. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from input-output linkages? We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector pairs LINKrsτ = i∈r j∈s Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ . Define mean intensity of IO linkages between sectors r and s as IOrs = 1 2 [(1 − λr ) ρrs + (1 − λs ) ρsr ] where λr = share of value added in sector r’s total output & ρrs = share of inputs sourced domestically from sector s in sector r’s total domestic spending on intermediates.
  • 78. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Input-Output Intensity Question: does the comovement captured by the LINK component arise from input-output linkages? We use data on sector pairs from Input-Output (IO) tables by the OECD and follow di Giovanni et al. (2014) decomposing the LINK component across sector pairs LINKrsτ = i∈r j∈s Yi,τ−1 Yτ−1 Yj,τ−1 Yτ−1 Cov eit , ejt so that LINKτ = r s LINKrsτ . Define mean intensity of IO linkages between sectors r and s as IOrs = 1 2 [(1 − λr ) ρrs + (1 − λs ) ρsr ] where λr = share of value added in sector r’s total output & ρrs = share of inputs sourced domestically from sector s in sector r’s total domestic spending on intermediates. Expect positive correlation between LINKrs and IOrs if comovement arises from input-output linkages.
  • 79. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement between firms;
  • 80. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement between firms; Proxy the extent of labor market pooling occurring between each pair of sectors with a pseudo-Herfindahl index of concentration of economic activity across Italian provinces Hrs = P p=1 ˜z2 p with: ˜z2 p = ( i∈r∩p Li )( i∈s∩p Li ) ( i∈r Li )( i∈s Li ) where Li = workers employed by firm i, p indexes Italian provinces, r and s index sectors; in order to measure pooling between sectors r and s (not only within either one of them), omit squared terms and keep only interaction terms from z2 p = i∈r,s∩p Li i∈r,s Li 2 ;
  • 81. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Linkages Volatility and Labor Market Concentration Labor market interactions provide another potential cause of comovement between firms; Proxy the extent of labor market pooling occurring between each pair of sectors with a pseudo-Herfindahl index of concentration of economic activity across Italian provinces Hrs = P p=1 ˜z2 p with: ˜z2 p = ( i∈r∩p Li )( i∈s∩p Li ) ( i∈r Li )( i∈s Li ) where Li = workers employed by firm i, p indexes Italian provinces, r and s index sectors; in order to measure pooling between sectors r and s (not only within either one of them), omit squared terms and keep only interaction terms from z2 p = i∈r,s∩p Li i∈r,s Li 2 ; The resulting pseudo-Herfindahl measure ranges between 1/P and 1, and avoids the potential issue of capturing high concentration in only one of the two sectors.
  • 82. Firm Linkages’ Contribution Results More interconnected pairs of sectors (as measured from OECD IO tables, or labor market concentration) significantly display higher linkages volatilities. Pairwise correlations positive and highly significant for both mean IO intensity and labor market interaction (more pronounced for the former); LINKrs 2001 2006 2011 IOrs 0.4788∗∗∗ 0.4273∗∗∗ 0.3684∗∗∗ Hrs 0.2861∗∗∗ 0.2170∗∗∗ 0.3329∗∗∗ Partial contributions (standardized beta coefficients) coherently display higher relevance and significance for mean IO intensity than for labor market pooling. LINKrs 2001 2006 2011 IOrs 0.432∗∗∗ 0.400∗∗∗ 0.284∗∗∗ Hrs 0.132∗∗∗ 0.078∗ 0.228∗∗∗ N 528 528 528 R2 0.244 0.188 0.181 adj. R2 0.242 0.185 0.178
  • 83. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 84. Extensions and Robustness 1. LP shocks in place of TFP shocks: isolate idiosyncratic shocks eit from ∆lpit = δst + eit where lpit = ln (Yit /Lit ) and we also control for the growth rate in the capital stock per employee ∆klit = ∆ln(Kit /Lit ) ∆lpit = ∆klit + uit ∆lpit = uit ∆lpit = δst + eit this should give eit (TFP-based) highly correlated with eit . I. Productivity Growth TFP LP LP’ Corr. with TFP growth 1.0000 0.9203 0.9881 II. Idiosyncratic Component eit eit eit Corr. with Idiosyncratic TFP growth 1.0000 0.9189 0.9881
  • 85. Extensions and Robustness 1. LP based idiosyncratic shocks (controlling for K per employee) Whole Economy Manufacturing St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD A. 2000–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0075 1.0000 0.0262 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.4094 0.0078 0.3007 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0061 0.8146 0.0217 0.8284 B. 2000–2007 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0071 1.0000 0.0233 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0030 0.4279 0.0073 0.3133 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0054 0.7637 0.0181 0.7785 C. 2008–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0081 1.0000 0.0296 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0031 0.3883 0.0084 0.2863 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0069 0.8728 0.0257 0.8855
  • 86. Extensions and Robustness 2. Gross Output (GO) Based Shocks: qit = αl lit + αk kit + αmmit + ˜ωit ˜git = ˜ωit − ˜ωi,t−1 When estimating yit = βl lit + βk kit + ωit (where yit = qit − mit ) we impose αm = 1 (1:1 relationship b/w Q and M). Direct implication: ωit larger, by construction, than ˜ωit . Conceptually taken into account by aggregating with Domar weights, but there still is the potential that GO based idiosyncratic shocks are not found to have a significant impact on aggregate fluctuations. Control for this issue by adopting a GO based specification, and proceeding with Domar aggregation ˜gΩt|τ = i Qi,τ−1 Yτ−1 ˜git = s Qs,τ−1 Yτ−1 ˜δst + i Qi,τ−1 Yτ−1 ˜eit
  • 87. Extensions and Robustness 2. Gross Output Based Shocks: Relative Standard Deviations Whole Economy Manufacturing St.Dev. Relative SD St.Dev. Relative SD A. 2000–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0080 1.0000 0.0279 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0021 0.2624 0.0068 0.2460 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0075 0.9413 0.0260 0.9304 B. 2000–2007 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0072 1.0000 0.0237 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0019 0.2650 0.0059 0.2505 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0066 0.9138 0.0213 0.8955 C. 2008–2014 Actual (¯σΩ) 0.0089 1.0000 0.0327 1.0000 Firm-specific (¯σF ) 0.0023 0.2593 0.0078 0.2408 Common-Sector (¯σ∆) 0.0086 0.9727 0.0315 0.9703
  • 88. Extensions and Robustness 3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks: in the baseline specification, firms are not allowed to react to common shocks in different ways. Therefore, we might incorrectly interpret as idiosyncratic shocks what are, instead, heterogeneous responses to common shocks. To control for this: isolate idiosyncratic shocks from the following git = δjt + K k=1 δjt × zkit + β Zit + eit where firm-level characteristics Zit = (z1it , ..., zkit , ..., zKit ) include (i) Size (number of employees quartile dummies); (ii) Age (dummy for whether the firm is more or less than 5 years old) (iii) Markups (estimated at firm-level as in De Loecker and Warzynski, 2012)
  • 89. Extensions and Robustness 3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks: Relative Standard Deviations I. Value Added Based Specification Differing Sensitivity By: Benchmark (i) Size (ii) Age (iii) Markup (iv) All A. 2000–2014 0.4181 0.4107 0.4120 0.4107 0.3990 B. 2000–2007 0.4375 0.4206 0.4218 0.4247 0.3950 C. 2008–2014 0.3959 0.3994 0.4008 0.3948 0.4036
  • 90. Extensions and Robustness 3. Control for heterogeneous responses to common shocks: Relative Standard Deviations II. Gross Output Based Specification Differing Sensitivity by: Benchmark (i) Size (ii) Age (iii) Markup∗ (iv) Markup∗∗ (v) All A. 2000–2014 0.2621 0.2650 0.2664 0.2773 0.3133 0.2694 B. 2000–2007 0.2650 0.2648 0.2669 0.2824 0.3236 0.2785 C. 2008–2014 0.2588 0.2651 0.2657 0.2713 0.3016 0.2590 ∗ Labor-based markups ∗∗ Materials-based markups
  • 91. Outline Introduction Conceptual Framework Empirical Implementation Granular Residual (Gabaix, 2011) Contributions to Aggregate TFP Volatility (di Giovanni et al., 2014) Data and Preliminary Statistics Results Granular Residual Relative Standard Deviations Channels for Firms’ Contributions Direct Effect’s Contribution Firm Linkages’ Contribution Extensions and Robustness Summing Up
  • 93. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations;
  • 94. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications;
  • 95. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications; We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that:
  • 96. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications; We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that: the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs ∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%);
  • 97. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications; We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that: the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs ∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%); The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis;
  • 98. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications; We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that: the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs ∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%); The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis; The direct and linkages components are not mere aggregate by-products of measurement error of TFP at the micro level: a counterfactual direct component would have an impact 3 times smaller; more concentrated sectors show higher direct volatilities as well; more interconnected couples of sectors show higher linkages volatilities.
  • 99. Summing Up Using data from CERVED and INPS, we investigate the granular sources of the Italian business cycle, i.e. the question of whether firm-level dynamics have an impact on aggregate fluctuations; The impact of idiosyncratic productivity shocks on Aggregate TFP volatility is found to be around 30% across different specifications; We exploit the decomposition proposed by Carvalho and Gabaix (2013) and di Giovanni et al. (2014), and find that: the contribution of the linkages component to firm-specific aggregate volatility is more relevant than that of the direct effect (∼ 80% vs ∼ 60%), especially when focusing on manufacturing (∼ 90% vs ∼ 40%); The contribution of the direct effect —though remaining well below that of the linkages channel— slightly grows in importance during the crisis; The direct and linkages components are not mere aggregate by-products of measurement error of TFP at the micro level: a counterfactual direct component would have an impact 3 times smaller; more concentrated sectors show higher direct volatilities as well; more interconnected couples of sectors show higher linkages volatilities. Taken together, the results suggest that even in an economy such as the Italian one —dominated by many small firms— firm-level idiosyncratic dynamics do have an impact on the aggregate fluctuations.
  • 100. Selected References Acemoglu, D., V. M. Carvalho, A. Ozdaglar, and A. Tahbaz-Salehi (2012): “The network origins of aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica, 80(5), 1977–2016. Ackerberg, D. A., K. Caves, and G. Frazer (2015): “Identification properties of recent production function estimators,” Econometrica, 83(6), 2411–2451. Carvalho, V. and X. Gabaix (2013): “The great diversification and its undoing,” The American Economic Review, 103(5), 1697–1727. De Loecker, J. and F. Warzynski (2012): “Markups and firm-level export status,” The American Economic Review, 102(6), 2437–2471. di Giovanni, J., A. A. Levchenko, and I. M´ejean (2014): “Firms, destinations, and aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica, 82(4), 1303–1340. Gabaix, X. (2011): “The granular origins of aggregate fluctuations,” Econometrica, 79(3), 733–772. Hulten, C. R. (1978): “Growth accounting with intermediate inputs,” The Review of Economic Studies, 45(3), 511–518. Lucas, R. E. (1977): “Understanding Business Cycles,” Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, 5, 7–29.