Causes and Consequences of the "Missing Middle": Informality, Productivity, and the Size Distribution of Manufacturing Firms in India

“中间缺失”的原因和后果：非正规性、生产率和印度制造企业的规模分布

• 批准号: 0922332
• 负责人: Ann Harrison
• 金额: $ 29.06万
• 依托单位: National Bureau of Economic Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0922332&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Causes; Consequences; Missing; Middle; Informality

Intellectual Merit The size distribution of manufacturing firms in India is highly unusual, with many small and large firms but very few in between. This "missing middle" is of concern to policy makers, who believe that it may be associated with India?s inability to expand manufacturing, increase the number of formal sector workers, and reduce the size of the informal sector. The large share of informality is associated with lower productivity, low wages, poor working conditions, and lack of security for workers. This research project seeks to understand the size distribution of firms in India, explain its causes, and identify the consequences for firm productivity in the manufacturing sector. The PI's confirm that there is a "missing middle" in comparison with other countries, with many small (informal) enterprises and few medium sized firms. They then systematically explore the possible determinants of this unusual size distribution, using a new panel dataset which they have created.In particular, they examine the effects of trade and foreign investment policies, licensing requirements, labor market policies, credit constraints and infrastructural constraints on the size distribution of manufacturing firms. The project concludes with an analysis of the determinants of productivity growth in India before and after the sweeping 1991 reforms. It analyzes the effects of changes in the trade regime, restrictions on foreign investment, credit constraints, infrastructure constraints, and labor laws on productivity growth. Rather than focus on one policy change, the PI's attempt to assign relative weights to all these different policies in driving Indian productivity changes. They link their work on productivity with research on size distributions by analyzing productivity differences between small and large enterprises, and between the formal and informal sectors. Finally, they explore the importance of policy changes for between- versus within-firm changes in productivity. This is the first study to analyze the effects of India's policy changes on the size distribution of both formal and informal manufacturing firms. This may also be the first study to systematically identify the policy determinants of India's "missing middle". Broader Impacts While the phenomenon of a "missing middle" is present in many poor countries, there has been no academic research that seeks to quantify the underlying causes of their unusual firm size distributions. More research is also urgently needed to understand why informal sector manufacturing employment in a country like India has not been absorbed by a growing formal sector. Evaluating these questions is important for poverty reduction, as many unskilled and poor workers are found in the informal sector. This project will create the most comprehensive panel dataset of Indian firms to date, as well as a linked informal-formal firm database. These two datasets, which will be made available to researchers, can be used to understand the relative importance of different policies (trade, foreign investment, licensing restrictions, exit restrictions, credit allocation) for productivity growth.

印度制造业企业的规模分布极不寻常，有许多小型和大型企业，但介于两者之间的企业很少。这一“缺失的中间”引起了决策者的关注，他们认为这可能与印度有关？中国没有能力扩大制造业，增加正规部门的工人数量，缩小非正规部门的规模。非正规就业的大部分与生产率低、工资低、工作条件差和工人缺乏安全感有关。该研究项目旨在了解印度企业的规模分布，解释其原因，并确定对制造业企业生产率的影响。PI证实，与其他国家相比，有一个“缺失的中间”，有许多小型（非正式）企业，很少有中型企业。然后，他们使用新制作的面板数据，系统地探讨了这种不寻常的规模分布的可能决定因素，特别是考察了贸易和外国投资政策、许可证要求、劳动力市场政策、信贷约束和基础设施约束对制造业企业规模分布的影响。该项目最后分析了1991年全面改革前后印度生产率增长的决定因素。它分析了贸易制度的变化、对外国投资的限制、信贷约束、基础设施约束和劳动法对生产率增长的影响。PI没有专注于一项政策变化，而是试图为所有这些不同的政策分配相对权重，以推动印度生产力的变化。他们通过分析小型和大型企业之间以及正规和非正规部门之间的生产率差异，将生产率研究与规模分布研究联系起来。最后，他们探讨了政策变化对企业间和企业内生产率变化的重要性。这是第一个研究分析印度的政策变化对正式和非正式制造企业的规模分布的影响。这也可能是第一个系统地确定印度“缺失的中间”的政策决定因素的研究。 虽然许多穷国存在“中间缺失”的现象，但没有学术研究试图量化其不寻常的公司规模分布的根本原因。还迫切需要进行更多的研究，以了解为什么在印度这样的国家，非正规部门的制造业就业没有被不断增长的正规部门所吸收。评估这些问题对减贫十分重要，因为许多非熟练工人和贫穷工人都在非正规部门工作。该项目将创建迄今为止最全面的印度公司面板数据集，以及一个连接的非正式-正式公司数据库。这两个数据集将提供给研究人员，可用于了解不同政策（贸易、外国投资、许可证限制、出口限制、信贷分配）对生产率增长的相对重要性。