Discussion paper

DP12835 Firm Sorting and Agglomeration

The distribution of firms in space is far from uniform. Some locations
host the most productive large firms, while others barely attract any.
In this paper, I study the sorting of heterogeneous firms across
locations and analyze policies designed to attract firms to particular
regions (place-based policies). I first propose a theory of the
distribution of heterogeneous firms in a variety of sectors across
cities. Aggregate TFP and welfare depend on the extent of agglomeration
externalities produced in cities and on how heterogeneous firms sort
across them. The distribution of city sizes and the sorting patterns of
firms are uniquely determined in equilibrium. This allows me to
structurally estimate the model, using French firm-level data. I find
that nearly half of the observed productivity advantage of large
cities is due to firm sorting. I use the estimated model to quantify
the general equilibrium effects of place-based policies. I find that
policies that decrease local congestion lead to a new spatial
equilibrium with higher aggregate TFP and welfare. In contrast,
policies that subsidize under-developed areas have negative aggregate
effects.

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Citation

Gaubert, C (2018), ‘DP12835 Firm Sorting and Agglomeration‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 12835. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp12835