The Sources of Capital Misallocation

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2019
Volume: 109
Issue: 7
Pages: 2531-67

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We develop a methodology to disentangle sources of capital "misallocation," i.e., dispersion in value-added/capital. It measures the contributions of technological/informational frictions and a rich class of firm-specific factors. An application to Chinese manufacturing firms reveals that adjustment costs and uncertainty, while significant, explain only a modest fraction of the dispersion, which stems largely from other factors: a component correlated with productivity and a fixed effect. Adjustment costs are more salient for large US firms, though other factors still account for the bulk of the dispersion. Technological/markup heterogeneity explains a limited fraction in China, but a potentially large share in the United States.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:109:y:2019:i:7:p:2531-67
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25