Customer Acquisition, Business Dynamism and Aggregate Growth
Speaker: Prof Petr Sedlacek
Affiliation: University of New South Wales
Location: Room S402, Social Science Building (#24), UQ St Lucia Campus.
Abstract
The process of firm entry, growth and exit – “business dynamism” – lies at the heart of modern growth models. Recent evidence suggests that business dynamism is largely driven by customer acquisition. Therefore, we develop an endogenous growth model in which firms not only innovate, but also accumulate customers in order to sell their products. In our framework, customer acquisition boosts firms’ innovation incentives and shifts market shares towards high-growth firms (“gazelles”). Combined, these effects explain over 1/3 of aggregate growth and substantially change predictions about the efficacy of growth policies. Finally, we document support for key model predictions using firm-level micro-data.
About the presenter's meeting
Dr Sedlacek will be visiting the School of Economics on Friday 18th November. While here, he will be using Room 520A, Level 5, Colin Clark Building. If you would like to meet with Dr Sedlacek, please contact Dr Andres Bellofatto who will be his host while at The University of Queensland.
About School Seminar Series
The School of Economics General Seminar Series is held on Fridays. These are in-person and presented by a range of guest researchers from around Australia and internationally.