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

智力价值印度制造公司的规模分布非常不寻常，有许多大小公司，但介于两者之间的公司很少。这种“中间缺失”引起了政策制定者的关注，他们认为这可能与印度有关？S无力扩大制造业、增加正规部门工人数量、缩小非正规部门的规模。非正式性的很大一部分与生产率低、工资低、工作条件差以及工人缺乏保障有关。这一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，中国存在着“缺失的中间阶层”，有许多小型(非正式)企业，而中型企业很少。然后，他们使用他们创建的新的面板数据集，系统地探索这种不寻常的规模分布的可能决定因素。他们特别检查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企业规模分布的影响。该项目最后对印度1991年全面改革前后生产率增长的决定因素进行了分析。它分析了贸易制度的变化、对外国投资的限制、信贷限制、基础设施限制和劳动法对生产率增长的影响。在推动印度生产率变化的过程中，PI试图对所有这些不同的政策赋予相对权重，而不是专注于一项政策变化。他们通过分析小企业和大企业之间以及正式部门和非正式部门之间的生产率差异，将他们关于生产率的工作与对规模分布的研究联系起来。最后，他们探讨了政策变化对公司之间与公司内部生产率变化的重要性。这是第一次分析印度政策变化对正规和非正规制造企业规模分布的影响的研究。这也可能是第一次系统地确定印度“中间缺失”的政策决定因素的研究。更广泛的影响虽然许多贫穷国家存在“中间缺失”现象，但尚未有学术研究试图量化这些国家不寻常的公司规模分布的根本原因。还迫切需要更多的研究，以了解为什么像印度这样的国家的非正规部门制造业就业没有被不断增长的正规部门吸收。评估这些问题对减贫很重要，因为在非正规部门发现了许多无技能和贫穷的工人。该项目将创建迄今为止最全面的印度公司面板数据集，以及一个链接的非正式-正式公司数据库。这两个数据集将提供给研究人员，可以用来了解不同政策(贸易、外国投资、许可限制、退出限制、信贷分配)对生产率增长的相对重要性。

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.