Working Paper: NBER ID: w18259
Authors: Lorenzo Caliendo; Ferdinando Monte; Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
Abstract: We use a comprehensive dataset of French manufacturing firms to study their internal organization. We first divide the employees of each firm into `layers' using occupational categories. Layers are hierarchical in that the typical worker in a higher layer earns more, and the typical firm occupies less of them. In addition, the probability of adding (dropping) a layer is very positively (negatively) correlated with value added. We then explore the changes in the wages and number of employees that accompany expansions in layers, output, or markets (by becoming exporters). The empirical results indicate that reorganization, through changes in layers, is key to understand how firms expand and contract. For example, we find that firms that expand substantially add layers and pay lower average wages in all pre-existing layers. In contrast, firms that expand little and do not reorganize pay higher average wages in all pre-existing layers.
Keywords: French manufacturing; organizational structure; exporting firms; wages; employee layers
JEL Codes: D22; F16; J24; J31; L23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Addition of layers (Y20) | Decrease in average wages (J31) |
| Expansion of firms (D25) | Addition of layers (Y20) |
| Expansion of firms (D25) | Higher average wages in existing layers (J31) |
| Transition to becoming exporters (F10) | Addition of layers (Y20) |
| Organizational changes (L29) | Wage dynamics (J31) |