FIRM ENTRY AND EXIT IN THE CANADIAN MANUFACTURING SECTOR, 1970-1982

This paper measures the importance of entry and exit to the Canadian manufacturing sector in the 1970s. It focuses on the size of entrants at birth and the transition path of entrants as they move from a stage of infancy to adolescence. The exit rates of births, their length of life, and the growth path of entrants are presented. Distinctions are made between greenfield and merger entry. While entrants are small at birth, the cumulative effect of successive cohorts of entrants in the 1970s adds up to a significant fraction of all firms and total sales by 1979. -Authors