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Product quality, productive efficiency, and international technology diffusion : evidence from plant-level panel data

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  • Kraay, Aart
  • Soloaga, Isidro
  • Tybout, James

Abstract

What mechanisms most frequently transmit foreign technologies to developing country firms? Do these foreign technologies affect both productive efficiency and product quality in the recipient firms? Under what circumstances do firms pursue activities that give them access to foreign knowledge? To address these questions, the authors develop a new methodology and apply the framework to plant-level panel data from Colombia, Mexico, and Morocco. Their results point to several basic messages. First, by imposing enough structure on the production function and the demand system, it is possible to measure product quality and marginal costs at the plant level and to relate the evolution of these variables to firms'activity histories. Doing so, the authors find strong firm-level persistence in both quality and marginal costs. But in most industry or country panels that they study, past international activities help little in predicting current performance once past realizations on quality and marginal cost are controlled for. That is, activities do not typically Granger-cause performance. Interestingly, in the minority of cases where significant associations emerge, international activities appear to move costs and product quality in the same direction. So the net effect on profits in these cases is not immediately apparent. Second, several basic patterns emerge with respect to the determinants of international activities. Most fundamentally, activities are highly persistent, even after unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for. That suggests that firms incur sunk threshold costs when they initiate or cease activities, so temporary policy or macroeconomic shocks may have long-run effects on the patterns of activities observed in a particular country or industry. Also, activities tend to go together, so that studies that relate firms'performance to one international activity and ignore the others may generate misleading conclusions. But the bundling of activities seems to mainly reflect unobserved plant characteristics, such as managerial philosophy, contacts, product niche, and location. Once these are controlled for, there is little evidence that engaging in one international activity increases the probability that a firm will engage in others in the future.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 2759.

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Date of creation: 31 Jan 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2759

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Keywords: Educational Sciences; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Markets and Market Access; Decentralization; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Educational Sciences; Markets and Market Access; Access to Markets;

References

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  1. James R. Tybout, 2000. "Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, March.
  2. Wolfgang Keller, 1999. "How Trade Patterns and Technology Flows Affect Productivity Growth," NBER Working Papers 6990, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Samuel S. Kortum & Jonathan Eaton, 1995. "Trade in ideas: patenting and productivity in the OECD," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 95-9, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  7. Paul Collier & Marcel Fafchamps & Francis Teal & Stefan Dercon, 2000. "Exports and Firm - level Efficiency in African Manufacturing," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2000-16, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
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  10. Tybout, James R. & Westbrook, M. Daniel, 1995. "Trade liberalization and the dimensions of efficiency change in Mexican manufacturing industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 53-78, August.
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  12. Haddad, Mona & Harrison, Ann, 1993. "Are there positive spillovers from direct foreign investment? : Evidence from panel data for Morocco," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 51-74, October.
  13. 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.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Yasar, Mahmut & Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2008. "Foreign Technology Transfer and Productivity: Evidence From a Matched Sample," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 26, pages 105-112, January.
  2. Wolfgang Keller & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2003. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 9504, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Wolfgang Keller, 2001. "International Technology Diffusion," NBER Working Papers 8573, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Kamil Yılmaz & Şule Özler, 2007. "Productivity response to reduction in trade barriers: Evidence from Turkish manufacturing plants," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 0704, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
  5. Joze P. Damijan & Andreja Jaklic & Matija Rojec, 2005. "Do External Knowledge Spillovers Induce Firms'Innovations? Evidence from Slovenia," LICOS Discussion Papers 15605, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
  6. Haijime Katayama & Shihua Lu & James Tybout, 2003. "Why Plant-Level Productivity Studies are Often Misleading, and an Alternative Approach to Interference," NBER Working Papers 9617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. Damijan, Jože P. & Kostevc, Crt, 2007. "Knowledge Transfer, Innovation and Growth," Papers DYNREG06, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
  8. Ana Fernandes, 2002. "Trade Policy, Trade Volumes and Plant-Level Productivity in Colombian Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 847, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
  9. Keller, Wolfgang & Yeaple, Stephen R, 2003. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the US," CEPR Discussion Papers 3805, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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