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Imports and exports at the level of the firm: Evidence from Belgium

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Author Info
Mirabelle Muûls
Mauro Pisu

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Abstract

This paper explores a newly-available panel data set merging balance sheet and international trade transaction data for Belgium. Both imports and exports appear to be highly concentrated among few firms and seem to have become more so over time. Focusing on manufacturing, we find that facts previously reported in the literature for exports only actually apply to imports too. We note that the number of trading firms diminishes as the number of export destinations or import origins increases. The same is true if we consider the number of products traded. With regard to productivity differentials, firms that both import and export appear to be the most productive, followed, in descending order, by importers only, exporters only and non-traders. These results point to the presence of fixed costs; not only of exporting, but also of importing and to a process of self-selection in both export and import markets. Also, the productivity advantage of exporters reported in the literature may be overstated because imports were not considered.

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Paper provided by University of Nottingham, GEP in its series Discussion Papers with number 07/28.

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Handle: RePEc:not:notgep:07/28

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Related research
Keywords: exports; imports; productivity; firms;

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  1. Nancy Masschelein, 2007. "Monitoring pro-cyclicality under the capital requirements directive : preliminary concepts for developing a framework," Documents series 200711-22, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  2. Hidegunn Kyvik Nordås, 2008. "Trade paradigms for developing countries: Some old, some new, some borrowed, some out of the blue," Publication STUDIES IN TRADE AND INVESTMENT, in: Mia Mikic (ed.), Emerging Trade Issues for Policymakers in Developing Countries in Asia and the Pacific, chapter 1 Trade Policy Section, Trade and Investment Division, UNESCAP. [Downloadable!]
  3. Davide Castellani & Francesco Serti & Chiara Tomasi, 2008. "Firms in International Trade: Importers and Exporters Heterogeneity in the Italian Manufacturing Industry," LEM Papers Series 2008/04, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  4. Kalina Manova & Zhiwei Zhang, 2009. "China's Exporters and Importers: Firms, Products and Trade Partners," NBER Working Papers 15249, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2009. "Product and Process Innovation and the Decision to Export: Firm-level Evidence for Belgium," LICOS Discussion Papers 24709, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
  6. Carine Swartenbroekx, 2007. "The gas chain : influence of its specificities on the liberalisation process," Documents series 200711-24, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  7. Alexander Vogel & Joachim Wagner, 2008. "Higher Productivity in Importing German Manufacturing Firms: Self-selection, Learning from Importing, or Both?," Working Paper Series in Economics 106, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Gábor Békés & Péter Harasztosi & Balázs Muraközy, 2009. "Firms and Products in International Trade: Data and Patterns for Hungary," CeFiG Working Papers 9, Center for Firms in the Global Economy, revised 12 Oct 2009. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Annick Bruggeman, 2007. "Can Excess Liquidity Signal an Asset Price Boom?," Research series 200708-08, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  10. Frédéric Lagneaux, 2008. "Economic Importance of Belgian Transport Logistics," Documents series 200801-01, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  11. Francesco Serti & Chiara Tomasi, 2008. "Firm Heterogeneity: do destinations of exports and origins of imports matter?," LEM Papers Series 2008/14, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  12. Holger Breinlich & Chiara Criscuolo, 2008. "Service Traders in the UK," CEP Discussion Papers dp0901, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  13. Francesco Serti & Chiara Tomasi & Antonello Zanfei, 2008. "Exporters, Importers and Two-way traders: The links between internationalization, skills and wage," LEM Papers Series 2008/05, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. François Coppens & Fernando Gonzáles & Gerhard Winkler, 2007. "The performance of credit rating systems in the assessment of collateral used in Eurosystem monetary policy operations," Research series 200710-12, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Mauro Pisu, 2008. "Job creation, job destruction and firms’ international trade involvement," Research series 200803-17, National Bank of Belgium. [Downloadable!]
  16. International Study Group on Exports and Productivity (ISGEP), 2008. "Understanding Cross-Country Differences in Exporter Premia: Comparable Evidence for 14 Countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 144(4), pages 596-635, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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