Technology Locks, Creative Destruction, and Non-Convergence in Productivity Levels.

Plant-level data from US textile industries indicate : (1) significant cross-sectional dispersion in plant-level productivity within narrowly defined industries; (2) that highly productive plants grow faster and are less likely to exit; (3) dispersion in productivity is larger in industries with more rapid productivity growth; (4) older plants are bigger; and (5) plant births and closures are common to all four digit textile industries. This paper presents an extended vintage model to explain these facts.