An empirical investigation of the production function of the family firm

摘要

This article examines the impact of the family form of business ownership on the production frontiers of privately held firms in Western New York. Using survey and published data, it is found that fam- ily firms tend to be older, yet smaller in sales and production, than their non- family small business counterparts. From a "macro" perspective, a production function estimation concludes that fami- ly firms contribute less per firm to the flow of income in the examined regional economy than other privately held small business enterprises. This is based on the lower level of sales generated by family firms after controlling for other factors of production.