IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reviec/v12y2004i5p855-866.html

Does Exporting Increase Productivity? A Microeconometric Analysis of Matched Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Sourafel Girma
  • Avid Greenaway
  • Richard Kneller

Abstract

Exporting involves sunk costs, so some firms export whilst others do not. This proposition derives from a number of models of firm behavior and has been exposed to microeconometric analysis. Evidence from the latter suggests that exporting firms are generally more productive than nonexporters. They self‐select, in that they are more productive before they enter export markets, but the evidence suggests that entry does not make them any more productive. This paper investigates exporting and firm performance for a large panel of UK manufacturing firms, applying matching techniques. The authors find that exporters are more productive and they do self‐select. In contrast to other evidence, however, exporting further increases firm productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sourafel Girma & Avid Greenaway & Richard Kneller, 2004. "Does Exporting Increase Productivity? A Microeconometric Analysis of Matched Firms," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 855-866, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:12:y:2004:i:5:p:855-866
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9396.2004.00486.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2004.00486.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2004.00486.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew B Bernard & J Bradford Jensen, 2001. "Exporting and Productivity: The Importance of Reallocation," Working Papers 01-02, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Barbara Sianesi, 2001. "Propensity score matching," United Kingdom Stata Users' Group Meetings 2001 12, Stata Users Group, revised 23 Aug 2001.
    3. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen, 2004. "Why Some Firms Export," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 561-569, May.
    4. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-161, April.
    5. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen, 1995. "Exporters, Jobs, and Wages in U.S. Manufacturing: 1976-1987," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995 Micr), pages 67-119.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Volpe Martincus & Jerónimo Carballo, 2010. "Is Export Promotion Effective in Developing Countries? Firm-Level Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margins of Exports," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 36763, Inter-American Development Bank.
    2. Christopher Johann Kurz, 2006. "Outstanding Outsourcers: A Firm- and Plant-Level Analysis of Production Sharing," Working Papers 06-02, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Munch, Jakob Roland & Skaksen, Jan Rose, 2008. "Human capital and wages in exporting firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 363-372, July.
    4. David Greenaway & Richard Kneller & Xufei Zhang, 2010. "The Effect of Exchange Rates on Firm Exports: The Role of Imported Intermediate Inputs," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 961-986, August.
    5. Christian Volpe Martincus & Jerónimo Carballo, 2012. "Export promotion activities in developing countries: What kind of trade do they promote?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 539-578, June.
    6. Imbs, Jean & Pauwels, Laurent, 2025. "Measuring foreign exposure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. Effah Nyamekye, Gabriel, 2015. "A comparative study of the role of imports and exports on service sector productivity in Ghana," MPRA Paper 72091, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Davide Castellani, 2003. "Investments Abroad and Performance at Home Evidence from Italian Multinationals," Development Working Papers 180, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    9. Jens Matthias Arnold & Katrin Hussinger, 2005. "Export Behavior and Firm Productivity in German Manufacturing: A Firm-Level Analysis," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(2), pages 219-243, July.
    10. R Harris & Q Li, "undated". "Exporting, R&D and Absorptive Capacity in UK Establishments: Evidence from the 2001 Community Innovation Survey," Working Papers 2006_19, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    11. Qun Bao & Min Shao & Ligang Song, 2014. "Special Issue: Issues in Asia. Guest Editor: Laixun Zhao," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 218-230, May.
    12. Gopinath, Munisamy & Kim, Hanho & Kim, Sooil, 2006. "Productivity Before and After Exports: The Case of Korean Food Processing Firms," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21271, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Vu, Van Huong, 2012. "Higher productivity in Exporters: self-selection, learning by exporting or both? Evidence from Vietnamese manufacturing SMEs," MPRA Paper 40708, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Emanuele Brancati & Raffaele Brancati & Dario Guarascio & Andrea Maresca & Manuel Romagnoli & Antonello Zanfei, 2018. "Firm-level Drivers of Export Performance and External Competitiveness in Italy," European Economy - Discussion Papers 087, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    15. Okubo, Toshihiro & Picard, Pierre M. & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2010. "The spatial selection of heterogeneous firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 230-237, November.
    16. Aida Caldera, 2010. "Innovation and exporting: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 657-689, December.
    17. Martina Lawless & Karl Whelan, 2014. "Where Do Firms Export, How Much and Why?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1027-1050, August.
    18. Greenaway, David & Kneller, Richard, 2008. "Exporting, productivity and agglomeration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 919-939, July.
    19. Vito Amendolagine & Rosa Capolupo & Nadia Petragallo, 2011. "Export Status and Productivity Performance: Evidence from Matched Italian Firms," Aussenwirtschaft, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science, Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economics Research, vol. 66(2), pages 151-180, June.
    20. Casagrande, Dieison & Hidalgo, Álvaro & Feistel, Paulo, 2024. "Exports, productivity and capital intensity: Evidence for Brazilian firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 279-301.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:12:y:2004:i:5:p:855-866. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0965-7576 .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.