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Exporting and Firm Performance: Chinese Exporters and the Asian Financial Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Albert Park

    (Department of Economics, University of Oxford)

  • Dean Yang

    (Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Department of Economics, University of Michigan, Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development, and National Bureau of Economic Research)

  • Xinzheng Shi

    (School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University)

  • Yuan Jiang

    (National Bureau of Statistics, China)

Abstract

We ask how export demand shocks associated with the Asian financial crisis affected Chinese exporters. We construct firm-specific exchange rate shocks based on the precrisis destinations of firms' exports. Because the shocks were unanticipated and large, they are a plausible instrument for identifying the impact of exporting on firm productivity and other outcomes. We find that firms whose export destinations experience greater currency depreciation have slower export growth and that export growth leads to increases in firm productivity and other firm performance measures. Consistent with "learning-by-exporting," the productivity impact of export growth is greater when firms export to more developed countries. (c) 2010 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:92:y:2010:i:4:p:822-842
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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