Macroeconomic Fluctuations and the Firms' Rate of Growth Distribution: Evidence from UK and US Quoted Companies.

We fit the asymmetric Subbotin distribution introduced by Bottazzi and Secchi (2003) on UK and US data on quoted companies, in order to detect sources of asymmetries in the transmission of aggregate shocks, and cyclical patterns of higher moments of the firmsi?½ rate of growth distribution over the business cycle. We support the evidence provided by Higson et al. (2002, 2004) of a negative correlation between the rate of growth of GDP and the standard deviation and skewness of the distribu- tion. Kurtosis exhibits a procyclical pattern. Furthermore, we provide an explanation of the emergence of these stylised facts based on the evidence that the left tail of the distribution is more responsive to macroeconomic fluctuations than its right counterpart. The evidence points to financial factors as one of the main drivers of the observed pattern.

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