Bahar, Dany2020-12-162017-09Bahar, Dany. “The Middle Productivity Trap: Dynamics of Productivity Dispersion.” CID Research Fellow and Graduate Student Working Paper Series 2017.87, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, September 2017.https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37366608Using a worldwide firm-level panel dataset I document a "U-shaped" relationship between productivity growth and baseline levels within each country and industry. That is, fast productivity growth is concentrated at both ends of the productivity distribution. This result serves as a potential explanation to two stylized facts documented in the economic literature: the rising productivity dispersion within narrowly defined sectors, and the increasing market share of few yet highly productive firms.en-USResearch Paper or Report2020-12-1610.2139/ssrn.3043508