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Learning-by-Exporting? Firm-Level Evidence for UK Manufacturing and Services Sectors

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  • Cher LI
  • Richard HARRIS

Abstract

This study empirically assesses the microeconomic exporting-productivity nexus for both the UK manufacturing and services sectors during 1996-2004, based on a weighted FAME dataset. Our results show that firms that are older, that possess intangible assets or that have higher (labour) productivity in the year prior to exporting, are significantly more likely to sell overseas. In testing the post-entry ‘learning-by-exporting’ effect, we employ three approaches to controlling for endogeneity and sample selection, viz. instrumental variables, control function and matching, and find that this effect is present in many industries but not universal, and also varies amongst different types of exporting firms. Our overall estimate for the UK economy suggests a substantial post-entry productivity effect for firms new to exporting; a negative effect for firms exiting overseas markets; and large productivity gains while exporting for those that both enter and exit.
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  • Cher LI & Richard HARRIS, 2008. "Learning-by-Exporting? Firm-Level Evidence for UK Manufacturing and Services Sectors," EcoMod2008 23800080, EcoMod.
    • Handle: RePEc:ekd:000238:23800080
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    2. Richard I. D. Harris & Qian Cher Li, 2010. "Export‐Market Dynamics And The Probability Of Firm Closure: Evidence For The United Kingdom," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 57(2), pages 145-168, May.
    3. Alexander Vogel, 2008. "Zur Exporttätigkeit unternehmensnaher Dienstleister in Niedersachsen - Erste Ergebnisse zu Export und Produktivität auf Basis des Umsatzsteuerstatistikpanels," Working Paper Series in Economics 82, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    4. Popov, Vladimir, 2023. "Can China maintain high growth rates under the “dual-circulation” decoupling?," MPRA Paper 117953, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Popov, V., 2014. "Industrial Policy - How to Choose Industries that Should Be Supported," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 186-190.
    6. Popov, Vladimir & Chowdhury, Anis, 2015. "What Uzbekistan tells us about industrial policy that we did not know?," MPRA Paper 67013, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Murat A. Yülek & Kwon Hyung Lee & Jungsuk Kim & Donghyun Park, 2020. "State Capacity and the Role of Industrial Policy in Automobile Industry: a Comparative Analysis of Turkey and South Korea," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 307-331, June.
    8. Alexander Vogel, 2009. "Exporter performance in the German business services sector," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(7), pages 1015-1031, May.
    9. Jun Du & Yama Temouri, 2015. "High-growth firms and productivity: evidence from the United Kingdom," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 123-143, January.
    10. Alexander Vogel, 2009. "Exporter Performance in the German Business Services Sector: First Evidence from the Services Statistics Panel," Working Paper Series in Economics 111, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    11. Popov, Vladimir, 2019. "Successes and failures of industrial policy: Lessons from transition (post-communist) economies of Europe and Asia," MPRA Paper 95332, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. V. Popov & В. Попов, 2016. "Секреты И Перспективы Промышленной Политики Узбекистана // What Can Uzbekistan Tell Us About Industrial Policy That We Did Not Already Know," Review of Business and Economics Studies // Review of Business and Economics Studies, Финансовый Университет // Financial University, vol. 4(1), pages 5-25.

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    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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