IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-20-01243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Imports, productivity and substitutability between intermediate inputs: a quantile regressions approach

Author

Listed:
  • Segundo Camino-Mogro

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid; ESAI Business School; Universidad Católica Santiago de Guayaquil)

  • Paul Carrillo-Maldonado

    (Ecuadorian Political Economy Lab (EPEL); Inter-American Development Bank (IADB))

  • Alberto López

    (Department of Economic Analysis. Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Abstract

Using firm-level data from Ecuador, we study the impact of imported intermediates on productivity and estimate the elasticity of substitution between domestic and imported intermediates. We contribute to the literature by complementing mean regression results with quantile regression results. Our results suggest that, first, there is a positive effect of imports on productivity; second, this effect is significant at all quantile levels of output, although this effect seems to have an inverted-U shape; and third, domestic and imported intermediates are substitutes.

Suggested Citation

  • Segundo Camino-Mogro & Paul Carrillo-Maldonado & Alberto López, 2021. "Imports, productivity and substitutability between intermediate inputs: a quantile regressions approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 702-709.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-20-01243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2021/Volume41/EB-21-V41-I2-P63.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Yasar, Mahmut & Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2007. "International linkages and productivity at the plant level: Foreign direct investment, exports, imports and licensing," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 373-388, April.
    3. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2021. "The Exporter Productivity Premium Along the Productivity Distribution: Evidence from Quantile Regression with Nonadditive Firm Fixed Effects," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Joachim Wagner (ed.), MICROECONOMETRIC STUDIES OF FIRMS’ IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Advanced Methods of Analysis and Evidence from German Enterprises, chapter 9, pages 121-149, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "International Trade and Firm Performance: A Survey of Empirical Studies since 2006," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 2, pages 43-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "From Estimation Results to Stylized Facts: Twelve Recommendations for Empirical Research in International Activities of Heterogeneous Firms," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 15, pages 479-514, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Joachim Wagner, 2006. "Export Intensity and Plant Characteristics: What Can We Learn from Quantile Regression?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(1), pages 195-203, April.
    7. Zhang, Hongsong, 2017. "Static and dynamic gains from costly importing of intermediate inputs: Evidence from Colombia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 118-145.
    8. Kasahara, Hiroyuki & Rodrigue, Joel, 2008. "Does the use of imported intermediates increase productivity? Plant-level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 106-118, August.
    9. Mahmut Yasar & Carl H. Nelson & Roderick Rejesus, 2006. "Productivity and Exporting Status of Manufacturing Firms: Evidence from Quantile Regressions," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(4), pages 675-694, December.
    10. David Powell & Matthew Baker & Travis Smith, 2014. "Generalized Quantile Regression in Stata," 2014 Stata Conference 12, Stata Users Group.
    11. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    12. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Amit Kumar Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik & Petia Topalova, 2010. "Imported Intermediate Inputs and Domestic Product Growth: Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1727-1767.
    13. Gabriele Rovigatti & Vincenzo Mollisi, 2018. "Theory and practice of total-factor productivity estimation: The control function approach using Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 18(3), pages 618-662, September.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Segundo Camino‐Mogro & Paul Carrillo‐Maldonado, 2023. "Do imports of intermediate inputs generate higher productivity? Evidence from Ecuadorian manufacturing firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1471-1521, May.

    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. Segundo Camino-Mogro & Mary Armijos & Paul Vera-Gilces, 2022. "High-growth firms and international trade: evidence from Ecuador," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 299-332, January.
    2. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2021. "The Exporter Productivity Premium Along the Productivity Distribution: Evidence from Quantile Regression with Nonadditive Firm Fixed Effects," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Joachim Wagner (ed.), MICROECONOMETRIC STUDIES OF FIRMS’ IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Advanced Methods of Analysis and Evidence from German Enterprises, chapter 9, pages 121-149, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Maria Bas & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2014. "Does importing more inputs raise exports? Firm-level evidence from France," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(2), pages 241-275, May.
    4. Carlo Altomonte & Tommaso Aquilante & Gábor Békés & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2013. "Internationalization and innovation of firms: evidence and policy [Managing knowledge within and outside the multinational corporation]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 28(76), pages 663-700.
    5. Pedro J. Hernández, 2020. "Reassessing the link between firm size and exports," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(2), pages 207-223, June.
    6. Paul L. E. Grieco & Shengyu Li & Hongsong Zhang, 2022. "Input prices, productivity, and trade dynamics: long‐run effects of liberalization on Chinese paint manufacturers," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(3), pages 516-560, September.
    7. Cecília Hornok & Balázs Muraközy, 2019. "Markups of Exporters and Importers: Evidence from Hungary," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(3), pages 1303-1333, July.
    8. Mauro Caselli, 2018. "Do all imports matter for productivity? Intermediate inputs vs capital goods," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(2), pages 285-311, August.
    9. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2011. "The Exporter Productivity Premium along the Productivity Distribution Evidence from Unconditional Quantile Regression with Firm Fixed Effects," Working Papers WR-837, RAND Corporation.
    10. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2010. "The Exporter Productivity Premium along the Productivity Distribution: First Evidence from a Quantile Regression Approach for Fixed Effects Panel Data Models," Working Paper Series in Economics 182, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    11. Segundo Camino‐Mogro & Paul Carrillo‐Maldonado, 2023. "Do imports of intermediate inputs generate higher productivity? Evidence from Ecuadorian manufacturing firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1471-1521, May.
    12. M.R. van den Berg, 2013. "Importing, productivity and SMEs: firm-level evidence from the Netherlands," Working Papers 13-07, Utrecht School of Economics.
    13. Adriana Peluffo & Dayna Zaclicever, 2013. "Imported Intermediates and Productivity: Does Absorptive Capacity Matter? A Firm-Level Analysis for Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0613, Department of Economics - dECON.
    14. R. Rijesh, 2019. "International Trade and Productivity Growth in Indian Industry: Evidence from the Organized Manufacturing Sector," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 14(1), pages 1-39, April.
    15. David Powell & Joachim Wagner, 2011. "The Exporter Productivity Premium along the Productivity Distribution Evidence from Unconditional Quantile Regression with Firm Fixed Effects," Working Papers 837, RAND Corporation.
    16. Zhengwen Liu & Hong Ma, 2021. "Input Trade Liberalization And Markup Distribution: Evidence From China," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 344-360, January.
    17. Mo, Jiawei & Qiu, Larry D. & Zhang, Hongsong & Dong, Xiaoyu, 2021. "What you import matters for productivity growth: Experience from Chinese manufacturing firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Martha Denisse Pierola & Ana Margarida Fernandes & Thomas Farole, 2018. "The role of imports for exporter performance in Peru," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 550-572, February.
    19. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Exports, Imports and Firm Survival: First Evidence for Manufacturing Enterprises in Germany," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 10, pages 341-367, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Olper, Alessandro & Curzi, Daniele & Raimondi, Valentina, 2015. "Import Penetration, Intermediate Inputs and Firms’ Productivity in the EU Food Industry," 2015 Fourth Congress, June 11-12, 2015, Ancona, Italy 207844, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Imports; Productivity; Inputs substitutability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-20-01243. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.