We propose a theory of firm dynamics in which workers have ideas for new projects that can be sold in a market to existing firms or implemented in new firms: spin-offs. Workers have private information about the quality of their ideas. Because of an adverse selection problem, workers can sell...

Le redémarrage de l’activité des PME résidant en France se confirme en 2011, notamment grâce à un rebond des exportations, mais la fin d’année marque les prémices d’une inflexion. Le taux de marge augmente légèrement, tandis que le taux d’épargne se replie. L’investissement...

What type of businesses do unions target for organizing? A dynamic model of the union organizing process is constructed to answer this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity, and decides which ones to organize and when. An establishment becomes...

This paper advocates for incorporating timely measures of firms' current situation and future expectations when disentangling real effects of credit supply from demand-side factors. Identification of supply-side effects in firm-level analyses often relies on balance sheet variables to control...

La crise de 2008 a marqué une rupture pour les PME, qui n’ont pas retrouvé les rythmes de croissance d’avant-crise. Après une légère remontée en 2010-2011, leur rentabilité s’est encore détériorée, pesant sur l’investissement. Les PME ont toutefois amélioré leur structure...

The 2008 crisis dealt a severe blow to SMEs, and they are still struggling to get back to the growth rates seen before the global turmoil. After improving slightly between 2010 and 2011, profit margins have since deteriorated again, placing a drag on investment. Nonetheless, since 2010, SMEs...

This paper evaluates the role of internal capital markets in business groups for allocating capital to its most productive use. A quantitative model in which business groups arise endogenously as substitutes for imperfect credit markets explains several stylized facts about establishment size...

In France, firms with 50 employees or more face substantially more regulation than firms with less than 50. As a result, the size distribution of firms is visibly distorted: there are many firms with exactly 49 employees. We model the regulation as the combination of a sunk cost that must be...

In France, firms with 50 employees or more face substantially more regulation than firms with less than 50. As a result, the size distribution of firms is visibly distorted: there are many firms with exactly 49 employees. We model the regulation as the combination of a sunk cost that must be...

Recent macroeconomic literature has stressed the importance of resource allocation between firms for aggregate productivity. An important issue, therefore, is how to measure allocative efficiency. We compare popular indicators of allocative efficiency, paying special attention to firm turnover....