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The Changing Size Distribution of California's North Coast Wineries*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2014

Don Cyr ,
Joseph Kushner  and
Tomson Ogwang
Don Cyr*
Affiliation:
Goodman School of Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada; Tel.: 905-688-5550, ext. 3136
Joseph Kushner*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada; Tel.: 905-688-5550, ext. 3165
Tomson Ogwang*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada; Tel.: 905-688-5550, ext. 4696
*
(corresponding author). e-mail: dcyr@brocku.ca
e-mail: kushner@brocku.ca.
e-mail: togwang@brocku.ca.
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Abstract

In this paper, we use three different goodness-of-fit tests for log-normality in conjunction with kernel nonparametric density estimation methods to examine both the size distribution of California North Coast wineries over time and by age. Our kernel density estimates indicate that the size distribution of wineries has changed from positively skewed to bimodal. These results are inconsistent with those in other industries, but are consistent with recent empirical research in the wine industry, which finds that smaller firms are comprising a larger component of market share. In terms of the distribution of firm size by age, our results indicate that as wineries age, the size distribution of firms becomes less skewed and more bimodal, which is also inconsistent with the research on other industries which finds that as firms age, the size distribution becomes more normal. Our results indicate that unlike other industries, where entry is very difficult, small firms can enter the wine industry and survive. (JEL Classifications: L11, L22, L25)

Keywords

age size distributionfirm size distributionwineries
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 2014 , pp. 51 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2014 

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Footnotes

*

The authors thank the editor, Karl Storchmann, Lester Kwong, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments and Kate Biggs and Tingting Liu for their data assistance.

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