The growth and failure of u. S. manufacturing plants

Timothy Dunne, Mark J. Roberts, Larry Samuelson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

859 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper examines the patterns of postentry employment growth and failure for over 200, 000 plants that entered the U. S. manufacturing sector in the 1967–1977 period. The postentry patterns of growth and failure vary significantly with observable employer characteristics. Plant failure rates decline with size and age as do the growth rates of nonfailing plants. The expected growth rate of a plant, which depends on the net effect of these two forces, declines with size for plants owned by single-plant firms but increases with size for plants owned by multiplant firms.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)671-698
Number of pages28
JournalQuarterly Journal of Economics
Volume104
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1989

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Economics and Econometrics

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