Using both regression analysis and an unsupervised graphical model approach (never applied before to this issue), we confirm the rejection of Gibrat’s Law (stating that a firm’s growth is independent of that firm’s initial size) when our firm-level data are considered over the entire investigated period, while the opposite is true when we allow for market selection; indeed, the growth behavior of the surviving most efficient firms is in line with Gibrat’s Law. This evidence reconciles early and current literature and may have interesting implications in terms of both theoretical research and policy suggestions regarding subsidies to small firms, which do not necessarily grow faster than their larger counterparts.

使用回归分析和无监督图形模型方法（以前从未应用于这个问题），当我们考虑公司层面的数据时，我们确认了吉布拉特定律的拒绝（指出公司的增长独立于该公司的初始规模）。整个调查期间，而当我们允许市场选择时则相反；事实上，幸存的最高效企业的增长行为符合吉布拉特定律。这一证据协调了早期和当前的文献，并且可能对有关小企业补贴的理论研究和政策建议产生有趣的影响，因为小企业的增长速度不一定比大企业快。