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Improved Access to Foreign Markets Raises Plant-Level Productivity ... for Some Plants

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  • Alla Lileeva
  • Daniel Trefler

Abstract

We weigh into the debate about whether rising productivity is ever a consequence rather than a cause of exporting. Exporting and investing to raise productivity are complimentary activities. For lower-productivity firms, incurring the fixed costs of such investments is justifiable only if accompanied by the larger sales volumes that come with exporting. Lower foreign tariffs will induce these firms to simultaneously export and invest in productivity. In contrast, lower foreign tariffs will induce higher-productivity firms to export without investing, as in Melitz (2003). We model this econometrically using a heterogeneous response model. Unique 'plant-specific' tariff cuts serve as our instrument for the decision of Canadian plants to start exporting to the United States. We find that those lower-productivity Canadian plants that were induced by the tariff cuts to start exporting (a) increased their labor productivity, (b) engaged in more product innovation, and (c) had high adoption rates of advanced manufacturing technologies. These new exporters also increased their domestic (Canadian) market share at the expense of non-exporters, which suggests that the labor productivity gains reflect underlying gains in TFP. In contrast, we find no effects for higher-productivity plants, just as predicted by our complementarity theory.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13297.

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Date of creation: Aug 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13297

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  1. Albert Park & Dean Yang & Xinzheng Shi & Yuan Jiang, 2010. "Exporting and Firm Performance: Chinese Exporters and the Asian Financial Crisis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 822-842, November.
  2. 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.
  3. John Romalis, 2005. "NAFTA's and CUSFTA's Impact on International Trade," NBER Working Papers 11059, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. repec:rus:hseeco:122439 is not listed on IDEAS
  5. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2001. "Information technology and the U.S. productivity revival: what do the industry data say?," Staff Reports 115, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  6. Daniel Trefler, 2004. "The Long and Short of the Canada-U. S. Free Trade Agreement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 870-895, September.
  7. Roberts, Mark J & Tybout, James R, 1997. "The Decision to Export in Colombia: An Empirical Model of Entry with Sunk Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 545-64, September.
  8. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-75, March.
  9. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Exporting raises productivity in sub-Saharan African manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-391, December.
  10. Michael P. Keane & Susan E. Feinberg, 2007. "ADVANCES IN LOGISTICS AND THE GROWTH OF INTRA-FIRM TRADE: THE CASE OF CANADIAN AFFILIATES OF U.S. MULTINATIONALS, 1984-1995 -super-* ," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 571-632, December.
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