Multiplying multi-plants: A new and consequential phenomenon

Anand, Abhishek, Subramanian, Arvind and Thomas, Naveen (2025) Multiplying multi-plants: A new and consequential phenomenon. Journal of Development Economics, 174: 103455. ISSN 0304-3878

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Abstract

Nearly all the literature using the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data in India has overlooked or not seriously incorporated the phenomenon of multi-plants, whereby a firm sets up multiple production facilities within a state. We show that multi-plants have grown dramatically over time, now accounting for 36 percent of employment in large firms (greater than 200 workers). The multi-plant phenomenon is important because it changes our understanding of the evolution of the size of large firms: contrary to recent research we find that accounting for multi-plants shows that large plants have not grown in size (and may even have shrunk) despite increasing recourse to contract labour. More broadly, any literature that focusses on firm size distribution without accounting for the multi-plant phenomenon is prone to measurement error.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Plant size distribution | Multi-plants | Productivity | Regulatory risk
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Economics, Econometrics and Finance > Economics
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of Government and Public Policy
Depositing User: Dharmveer Modi
Date Deposited: 04 Feb 2025 12:38
Last Modified: 04 Feb 2025 12:38
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103455
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/9091

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