Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Institutions and export dynamics

Contents:

Author Info

  • Luis Araujo

    () (Michigan State University)

  • Giordano Mion

    () (London School of Economics)

  • Emanuel Ornelas

    () (London School of Economics)

Abstract

We study the role of contract enforcement in shaping the dynamics of international trade at the firm level. We develop a theoretical model to describe how agents build reputations to overcome the problems created by weak enforcement of international contracts. We find that, all else equal, exporters start their activities with higher volumes and remain as exporters for a longer period in countries with better contracting institutions. However, conditional on survival, the growth rate of a firm’s exports to a country decreases with the quality of the country’s institutions. We test these predictions using a rich panel of Belgium exporting firms from 1995 to 2008 to every country in the world. We adopt two alternative empirical strategies. In one specification we use firm-year fixed effects to control for time-varying firm-specific characteristics. Alternatively, we model selection more explicitly with a two-step Heckman procedure using “extended gravity” variables as our exclusion restrictions. Results from both specifications support our predictions. Overall, our findings suggest that weak contracting institutions cannot be thought simply as an extra sunk or fixed cost to exporting firms; they also significantly affect firms’ trade volumes and have manifold implications for firms’ dynamic patterns in foreign markets.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.nbb.be/doc/oc/repec/reswpp/wp220En.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bank of Belgium in its series Working Paper Research with number 220.

as in new window
Length: 54 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2012
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201202-220

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Boulevard de Berlaimont 14, B-1000 Bruxelles
Phone: (+ 32) (0) 2 221 25 34
Fax: (+ 32) (0) 2 221 31 62
Email:
Web page: http://www.nbb.be
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords: Firm Exports; Contract enforcement; Contracting institutions; Firm dynamics;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Intra-Firm Trade and Product Contractibility," Working Paper Series WP10-3, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  2. John McMillan & Christopher Woodruff, 1998. "Interfirm Relationships and Informal Credit in Vietnam," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 132, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
  3. Andrew B. Bernard & Marco Grazzi & Chiara Tomasi, 2011. "Intermediaries in International Trade: Direct versus indirect modes of export," NBER Working Papers 17711, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Andrei A. Levchenko, 2007. "Institutional Quality and International Trade," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 791-819.
  5. Costinot, Arnaud, 2007. "On the Origins of Comparative Advantage," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt07g7g8h8, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
  6. Hector Calvo & Gregory Corcos & Emanuel Ornelas & Facundo Albornoz, 2010. "Sequential Exporting," 2010 Meeting Papers 1065, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  7. Gregory Corcos & Delphine M. Irac & Giordano Mion & Thierry Verdier, 2008. "The Determinants of Intra-Firm Trade," Development Working Papers 267, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano.
  8. R. Aeberhardt & I. Buono & H. Fadinger, 2011. "Learning, Incomplete Contracts and Export Dynamics: Theory and Evidence from French Firms," Documents de Travail de la DESE - Working Papers of the DESE g2011-16, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, DESE.
  9. Nunn, Nathan, 2007. "Relationship-Specificity, Incomplete Contracts, and the Pattern of Trade," Scholarly Articles 4686801, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  10. Melitz, Marc J, 2002. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," CEPR Discussion Papers 3381, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  11. Lawless, Martina, 2011. "Marginal Distance: Does Export Experience Reduce Firm Trade Costs?," Research Technical Papers 2/RT/11, Central Bank of Ireland.
  12. Turrini, Alessandro & van Ypersele, Tanguy, 2010. "Traders, courts, and the border effect puzzle," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2-3), pages 81-91, May.
  13. McLaren, J, 1996. "Supplier Relations and the Market Context : A Theory of Handshakes," Papers 766, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
  14. Ahn, JaeBin & Khandelwal, Amit K. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "The role of intermediaries in facilitating trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 73-85, May.
  15. Rauch, James E. & Watson, Joel, 2003. "Starting small in an unfamiliar environment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 1021-1042, September.
  16. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A., 2006. "Trade, inequality, and the political economy of institutions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3836, The World Bank.
  17. James E. Anderson & Douglas Marcouiller, S.J., 1999. "Insecurity and the Pattern of Trade: An Empirical Investigation," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 418, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 03 Aug 2000.
  18. Gabriel Felbermayr & Benjamin Jung, 2011. "Trade Intermediation and the Organization of Exporters," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 634-648, 09.
  19. Tibor Besedeš & Byung–Cheol Kim & Volodymyr Lugovskyy, 2011. "Export Growth and Credit Constraints," CeFiG Working Papers 16, Center for Firms in the Global Economy, revised 16 Oct 2011.
  20. Gwartney, James & Lawson, Robert, 2003. "The concept and measurement of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 405-430, September.
  21. Acemoglu, Daron & Antras, Pol & Helpman, Elhanan, 2007. "Contracts and Technology Adoption," Scholarly Articles 3199063, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  22. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Wholesalers and Retailers in US Trade," Working Paper Series WP10-10, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
  23. Heiwai Tang & Yifan Zhang, 2012. "Quality Differentiation and Trade Intermediation," Development Working Papers 340, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 13 Nov 2012.
  24. Pol Antràs & C. Fritz Foley, 2011. "Poultry in Motion: A Study of International Trade Finance Practices," NBER Working Papers 17091, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  25. Luis Araujo & Emanuel Ornelas, 2007. "Trust-Based Trade," CEP Discussion Papers dp0820, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  26. Costas Arkolakis, 2010. "Market Penetration Costs and the New Consumers Margin in International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(6), pages 1151 - 1199.
  27. Morales, Eduardo & Sheu, Gloria & Zahler, Andrés, 2011. "Gravity and extended gravity: estimating a structural model of export entry," MPRA Paper 30311, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  28. Freund, Caroline & Pierola, Martha Denisse, 2010. "Export entrepreneurs : evidence from Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5407, The World Bank.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Mirabelle Muûls, 2012. "Exporters, Importers and Credit Constraints," CEP Discussion Papers dp1169, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  2. Söderlund, Bengt & Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik, 2012. "Dynamic Effects of Institutions on Firm-Level Exports," Ratio Working Papers 184, The Ratio Institute.
  3. Gabriel J. Felbermayr & Gilbert Spiegel, 2012. "A Simple Theory of Trade, Finance, and Firm Dynamics," CESifo Working Paper Series 3873, CESifo Group Munich.
  4. Heyman, Fredrik & Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik, 2012. "The Dynamics of Offshoring and Institutions," Ratio Working Papers 190, The Ratio Institute.
  5. MAYNERIS, Florian & PONCET, Sandra, 2011. "Entry on difficult export markets by Chinese domestic firms: the role of foreign export spillovers," CORE Discussion Papers 2011063, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  6. Giordano Mion & Luca David Opromolla, 2011. "Managers' Mobility, Trade Status and Wages," CEP Discussion Papers dp1044, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  7. Massimiliano Bratti & Giulia Felice, 2012. "Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Internationalization and Product Innovation," Development Working Papers 327, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 13 Nov 2012.
  8. Tibor Besedeš & Byung–Cheol Kim & Volodymyr Lugovskyy, 2011. "Export Growth and Credit Constraints," CeFiG Working Papers 16, Center for Firms in the Global Economy, revised 16 Oct 2011.
  9. Stirbat, Liviu & Record, Richard & Nghardsaysone, Konesawang, 2013. "Determinants of export survival in the Lao PDR," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6301, The World Bank.
  10. Tingvall, Patrik, 2011. "Dynamic Effects of Corruption on Offshoring," Ratio Working Papers 182, The Ratio Institute.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201202-220

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.