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History Matters for the Export Decision Plant Level Evidence from Turkish Manufacturing Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Sule Ozler

    (Department of Economics, UCLA)

  • Erol Taymaz

    (Department of Economics, METU)

  • Kamil Yilmaz

    (Department of Economics, Koc University)

Abstract

In a dynamic panel data framework, we investigate the factors influencing the export decision of the Turkish manufacturing plants over the 1990-2001 period. Our results support the presence of high sunk costs of entry to export markets, as well as the hypothesis that the full history of export participation matters for the current export decision. We further show that the effect of the past export experience on current export decision rapidly depreciates over time: Recent export market participation matters more than the participation further in the past. Finally, we show that while persistence in exporting helps lower the costs of re-entry today, there are diminishing returns to export experience. Our results are robust to plant characteristics (plant size, technology, composition of the employment), the spillovers from the presence of exporters in the same industry, as well as industry and year effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Sule Ozler & Erol Taymaz & Kamil Yilmaz, 2007. "History Matters for the Export Decision Plant Level Evidence from Turkish Manufacturing Industry," ERC Working Papers 0704, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Mar 2007.
    • Handle: RePEc:met:wpaper:0704
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Export decision; productivity; sunk costs; plant characteristics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory

    NEP fields

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