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Are low-productive exporters marginal exporters? Evidence from Germany

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  • Joachim Wagner

    (Leuphana University Lueneburg)

Abstract

A stylized fact from the emerging literature on the micro-econometrics of international trade and a central implication of the heterogeneous firm models from the new new trade theory is that exporters are more productive than non-exporters. It is argued that this exporter-productivity premium is due to extra cost of exporting that can be covered profitably by more productive firms only. Germany is a case in point - exporting firms from manufacturing industries are more productive than non-exporting firms from the same 4-digit industry both on average and over the whole productivity distribution. However, many firms from the lower end of this distribution are exporters. This paper report that these low-productivity exporters are not marginal exporters defined according to the share of exports in total sales, or export participation over time, or the number of goods exported, or the number of countries exported to.

Suggested Citation

  • Joachim Wagner, 2013. "Are low-productive exporters marginal exporters? Evidence from Germany," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 467-481.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-13-00084
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2021. "The Exporter Productivity Premium Along the Productivity Distribution: Evidence from Quantile Regression with Nonadditive Firm Fixed Effects," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Joachim Wagner (ed.), MICROECONOMETRIC STUDIES OF FIRMS’ IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Advanced Methods of Analysis and Evidence from German Enterprises, chapter 9, pages 121-149, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
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    Cited by:

    1. Bin Qiu & Zhijun Yan, 2017. "Market Efficiency, Heterogeneous Trade Costs and Export-Only Firms," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 101-122, February.
    2. Arijit Mukherjee & Umut Erksan Senalp, 2021. "Firm‐productivity and cross border merger," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 838-859, September.
    3. Joachim Wagner, 2014. "Low-productive exporters are high-quality exporters. Evidence from Germany," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 745-756.
    4. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "A survey of empirical studies using transaction level data on exports and imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(1), pages 215-225, February.
    5. Sánchez, Patricio & Gallego, Elena & Rivero, Dolores & Lago-Peñas, Santiago, 2014. "El impacto de la internacionalización sobre las empresas: Evidencia empírica para el caso español [The impact of internationalization on firms: Empirical evidence for the Spanish case]," MPRA Paper 54602, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Arijit Mukherjee, 2017. "Firm-productivity and export under non-constant marginal costs," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(2), pages 911-917.
    7. Joachim Wagner, 2014. "New Data from Official Statistics for Imports and Exports of Goods by German Enterprises," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 134(3), pages 371-378.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exports; productivity; low-productive exporters; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing

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