Spillovers from high growth firms: evidence from Hungary

Abstract

How do high-growth firms (HGFs) affect the rest of the economy? We explore this question using Hungarian administrative microdata. Relying on the Birch definition of HGFs, we find evidence for stronger productivity growth for firms operating in industries with more HGFs and for firms supplying industries with more HGFs. Knowledge spillovers or the surge of HGFs’ demand for intermediate inputs could explain these positive associations. Firms with intermediate productivity levels seem most likely to benefit from this effect, while we find no differences by age or export status. The results hold irrespective of the level of spatial aggregation and are robust to alternative definitions of HGFs as well as different measures of productivity or spillover.