This paper investigates the contribution of high-growth firms (HGFs) to aggregate productivity growth. Four stylized facts emerge. First, HGFs mainly contribute to productivity growth during their high-growth phase but not afterwards. Second, their contribution varies substantially across...

We examine market selection mechanisms and their strength for a representative cohort of US new independent firms. In particular, we explore whether and how effectively markets reward newly-born firms according to their "fitness" in terms of both labour productivity and profitability. Our...

Policymakers in several countries have recently taken steps to promote the rapid export expansion of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The goal of these policies has been to create successful export-intensive firms, which are often referred to as born globals. These measures are...

Policymakers in several countries have recently taken steps to promote the rapid export expansion of high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The goal of these policies has been to create successful export-intensive firms, which are often referred to as born globals. To the best of...

This paper tests the presence of an ‘entrepreneurial imprinting effect’ of founders’ human capital on entrepreneurial ventures’ performance. More specifically, we empirically explore the impact of entrepreneurs’ human capital on a firm’s sales growth performance by disentangling the...

This paper examines how the enforceability of noncompete covenants affects the creation, growth, and survival of spinouts and other new entrants. The impact of noncompete enforceability on new firms is ambiguous, since noncompetes reduce knowledge leakage but impose hiring costs. However, we...

We explore how financial constraints distort the entry decisions among otherwise productive entrepreneurs and limit growth of promising young firms. A model of liquidity-constrained entrepreneurs suggests that the easing of credit constraints can induce more entry of firms with greater long-run...

This paper analyzes the relationship between the performance of incumbent firms and the net entry of new firms by combining different theoretical views of entrepreneurship. It shows that new knowledge and ideas created but not commercialized by incumbents are an important source of...

The literature has established that young firms engaged in R&D exhibit a pronounced asymmetry in their economic performance, with high premia at the upper end of the conditional growth distribution. We argue that this binary view - i.e., R&D-oriented firms versus all others - is somewhat...

Previous studies have established that young innovative companies (YICs), characterized by high levels of in-house research and development (R&D), exhibit a pronounced growth premium at the upper end of the conditional growth distribution and are therefore of particular interest to policymakers....