Business dynamism 1: What did COVID-19 tell us about small business productivity?

The Economists' Corner

This week, it’s the first episode in a new mini-series where we dive into the dynamism of Australian businesses big and small.

Business dynamism is one of our key research areas here at CEDA. We’re keen to understand Australian companies’ risk appetite, the quality of our managers and what drives their decision-making.

Someone who’s long taken an interest in business dynamism is the head of structural policy analysis at the OECD’s Economics Department, Dan Andrews. He’s just released some insightful research showing high-productivity firms were more likely to grow and low-productivity firms more likely to contract during the first year of the pandemic, using small-business accounting and payslip data from Xero.

It’s particularly relevant now amid growing concerns our economic recovery is under threat, with much of the nation stuck in lockdown amid spiralling COVID-19 outbreaks.

But first, CEDA Chief Economist Jarrod Ball is joined by CEDA Chief Executive Melinda Cilento to discuss some of the issues we’re thinking about at CEDA this week.