Firm start-up size: a conditional quantile approach

Using data on the individual firms created in Portugal, we evaluate the importance of industry attributes for the distribution of firm start-up size. By estimating conditional quantile functions we take 'snap-shots' of the conditional distribution of new firms' dimension at different quantiles. This approach provides answers that usual methods do not, namely, how different entry is at 'small' and 'large' scales. We find that industry attributes, such as scale economies and turbulence, are more important for the largest entrants.