?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Feprints.imtlucca.it%2F2247%2F&rft.title=Where+Gibrat+meets+Zipf%3A+scale+and+scope+of+French+firms&rft.creator=Bee%2C+Marco&rft.creator=Riccaboni%2C+Massimo&rft.creator=Schiavo%2C+Stefano&rft.subject=HB+Economic+Theory&rft.subject=HD+Industries.+Land+use.+Labor&rft.description=The+proper+characterization+of+the+size+distribution+of+business+firms+represents+an+important+issue+in+economic+literature%2C+with+the+most+common+reference+distribu-+tions+being+the+lognormal+and+the+Pareto+varieties.+This+analysis+is+related+to+some+methodological+issues+that+are+rarely+properly+addressed+in+applied+work%2C+and+may+significantly+affect+the+results%3A+the+major+difficulties+arise+from+low+power+of+the+tests+caused+by+limited+sample+size+and+the+common+practice+of+binning+the+data.+In+this+paper+we+contribute+to+this+body+of+literature+by+analyzing+the+size+distribu-+tion+of+all+French+companies%2C+strongly+rejecting+the+hypothesis+that+it+is+a+Pareto+distribution.+Moreover%2C+we+argue+that+the+lognormal+distribution+is+a+more+reason-+able+first-cut+benchmark+for+the+entire+population+of+firms.+This+is+especially+true+for+single-product+firms%2C+while+we+show+the+emergence+of+a+Zipf+tail+for+the+class+of+multi-product+companies.+Our+findings+are+in+strong+agreement+with+some+recent+theoretical+contributions%2C+which+predict+that+the+size+distribution+depends+on+a+set+of+industry+specific+determinants.&rft.publisher=DEM+Discussion+Papers&rft.date=2014&rft.type=Working+Paper&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.identifier=++Bee%2C+Marco+and+Riccaboni%2C+Massimo+and+Schiavo%2C+Stefano++Where+Gibrat+meets+Zipf%3A+scale+and+scope+of+French+firms.++Working+Paper++%233%2F2014++++DEM+Discussion+Papers++++ISSN+2282-2801.++++++