It is important to understand the micro drivers of the economy’s reaction to large macro shocks. This column uses French firm-level data from 1993-2020 to study the contribution of the largest exporters to aggregate export fluctuations. The authors find that top exporters explained over 40% of aggregate fluctuations and drove the export collapses during the Global Crisis and the pandemic. Moreover, the 2020 collapse of French exports was driven by the higher sensitivity of large firms to demand shocks rather than disruptions to global value chains.
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