TY - UNPB
T1 - How to construct nationally representative firm level datasets from the orbis global database and aggregate implications
AU - Kalemli-Ozcan Sebnem, null
AU - Sorensen, Bent
AU - Villegas Sanchez, C.
AU - Volosovych Vadym, null
AU - Yelsitas, Sevcan
PY - 2023/5/1
Y1 - 2023/5/1
N2 - We construct nationally representative firm-level longitudinal data for European countries using financial statements from the Orbis database. We validate our data by comparing its coverage and firm size distribution to official statistics. We showcase two applications to show the importance of firm representativeness in understanding macroeconomic outcomes. First, we show that small-and-medium-sized firms (SMEs) account for a large share of aggregate economic activity. Second, we document that firm representativeness is important for calculating industry concentration trends over time as the share of economic activity accounted by top firms in an industry changes with the firm samples used.
AB - We construct nationally representative firm-level longitudinal data for European countries using financial statements from the Orbis database. We validate our data by comparing its coverage and firm size distribution to official statistics. We showcase two applications to show the importance of firm representativeness in understanding macroeconomic outcomes. First, we show that small-and-medium-sized firms (SMEs) account for a large share of aggregate economic activity. Second, we document that firm representativeness is important for calculating industry concentration trends over time as the share of economic activity accounted by top firms in an industry changes with the firm samples used.
U2 - 10.3386/w21558
DO - 10.3386/w21558
M3 - Working paper
BT - How to construct nationally representative firm level datasets from the orbis global database and aggregate implications
ER -