Reaching up and reaching out: The impact of competition on firms’ productivity and export decisions

Using firm‐level data from 139 countries, this paper investigates the effect of competition in both the domestic and foreign markets on firm productivity and export decisions. Applying a sample selection endogenous treatment (SSET) Poisson model that tackles both the issue of endogenous sample selection and endogenous treatment at the same time, we document robust evidence that strong competition in the domestic market propels firms to be more productive, and decreasing domestic competition increases firms’ propensity to export. However, firms’ export intensity (i.e. how much they export) is not directly influenced by competition in the domestic market. Moreover, lower competition in the foreign market increases the propensity of domestic firms to export, enlarging the set of exporting firms to include firms with relatively smaller export amounts.     

中国贸易结构及二氧化碳排放分析

通过投入产出SKYLINE分析法,探讨了中国进出口贸易在国际分工中的二氧化碳排放问题,研究结果显示2007年中国贸易结构在国际分工中具有污染逆差特征。分行业看,净出口二氧化碳排放比例排在前八位的产业部门分别是纺织业、纺织服装鞋帽皮革羽绒及其制品业、木材加工及家具制造业、通信设备计算机及其他电子设备制造业、金属制品业、工艺品及其他制造业、造纸印刷及文教体育用品制造业、电气机械及器材制造业。     

金融危机中的中国外贸高风险行业研究

我国对外贸易风险主要集中在燃料矿产品行业、化工行业、机械运输设备行业、办公通讯电子行业、纺织服装行业.在这五个外贸高风险的行业中,纺织服装行业的外贸风险主要存在于出口贸易;燃料矿产品行业和化工行业的外贸风险主要存在于进口贸易;机械运输设备行业和办公通讯电子行业的外贸风险不仅存在于出口贸易,还存在于进口贸易.2003至2007年这五个行业的国际竞争力最高的是纺织服装行业,最低的是燃料矿产品行业.当前,我们要积极扩大内需,缓解外向型经济带来的风险压力.     

制造业集聚经济的来源——基于企业数据的经验研究

本文基于世界银行2003年中国16个城市企业调查报告,对纺织服装业和电子设备制造业是否存在地方经济和城市经济进行了实证分析,并运用直接估计生产函数的方法判断了两个具有代表性的制造业行业集聚经济的来源,即集聚经济的外部性是来自于产业内还是产业间,并采用动态面板数据模型方法,消除了内生性.研究表明,两个行业的企业均能受益于本地同行业企业规模的扩大,而产业专业化则无益于知识溢出;电子设备制造业能受益于本地行业多样化,而在纺织服装业则不存在这种集聚经济.     

Market structures in small open economies: Evidence from Denmark

This paper provides some stylized facts about market structure in Denmark, a country exhibiting high rates of exports and imports as is common in small developed economies. Utilizing disaggregated data at the firm-product level for manufacturing industries, we highlight the widespread presence of industries that are neither purely oligopolistic or monopolistically competitive; rather, they contain a few domestic leaders with numerous firms having insignificant domestic market shares. We also document that, relative to the latter type of firms, leaders have greater labor productivity, are more capital intensive, and pay higher wages; additionally, they are more likely to export and import, although they exhibit a greater domestic intensity relative to exporters with negligible domestic market shares. Finally, through a model of leaders and followers, we investigate how leaders can benefit from acting strategically against small firms and quantify its potential impact on industry outcomes through a numerical exercise.     

外商直接投资对我国制造业自主创新投入的影响

本文利用2003—2007年我国28个制造行业的面板数据,检验了外商直接投资（FDI）参与度、FDI研发强度以及科技人员比重等因素对内资制造业自主创新投入的影响。结果表明上述三个因素对全部内资制造业的自主创新投入的影响并不显著。将制造业划分为高技术行业和一般行业,外资参与度对内资高技术行业研发强度的抑制程度要小于一般行业。外资研发强度对内资高技术行业研发强度的影响显著为负,对一般行业亦产生消极影响,但不显著。外资科技人员比重明显促进了高技术行业的自主创新投入,对低技术行业的研发支出强度产生负面影响,但统计上也不显著。上述结论意味着外资参与对内资自主创新投入的影响较为间接,需要关注直接影响内资自主创新投入的外资研发强度和外资科技人员比重等因素。内资企业要主动提高自主创新投入,形成自主创新能力,缩小和外资的技术差距。     

Greasing the wheels of international commerce: how services facilitate firms’ international sourcing

Abstract We use plant‐level data to study the link between the local availability of services and the decision of manufacturing firms to source materials from abroad. We develop a model to generate predictions about how the intensity of international sourcing of materials depends on the availability of services and firm characteristics. These predictions are supported by the data. Greater availability of services across regions, industries, and time increases firms’ foreign sourcing of materials relative to sales. The impact of services differs by firm type. National firms’ sourcing responds to changes in regional service conditions, whereas multinationals tend to be less affected.     

Effects of foreign equity participation on recipient firm exports

We offer new evidence on the role of foreign investment in domestic firms’ export decisions, both at intensive and extensive margins, using balance sheet data from a panel of manufacturing firms in India. In contrast to the existing literature, we analyse the effect of foreign investment at different levels, where the levels correspond to percentages of foreign equity. We use a selection procedure to control for the potential self-selection of firms into export participation. Though we do find that foreign investment increases a domestic firm’s likelihood to export, firms with majority foreign equity are found to serve domestic market more, once the self-selection is accounted for.     

Why does China protect its labour‐intensive industries more?*

China's tariff structure favours labour‐intensive sectors, and this is at odds with traditional theory of comparative advantage. The paper argues that tariffs in China are a mechanism for protecting technology‐backward domestic – especially state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) from competition technology‐advanced foreign enterprises producing in China. With relatively integrated labour markets and cross‐firm technology differences, SOEs’ subsistence is supported by subsidized credit and limited access of foreign firms’ local production to tariff‐protected domestic markets. Labour market integration and capital subsidies increase the relative cost of labour in SOEs compared to their foreign competitors, hurting more domestic firms in industries that use labour more intensively. Restrictions to FIEs’ (foreign‐invested enterprises) access to tariff‐protected product markets, which protect more labour‐intensive industries, compensate for the greater cost disadvantage of SOEs in labour‐intensive sectors.     

Japanese and US Trade with China: A Comparative Analysis

The paper provides a simple comparative analysis of Japanese and US trade with China. In recent years, Japanese exports to China had been growing faster than US exports, but Japanese imports from China had been growing more slowly. A large amount of US and Japanese exports were first shipped to Hong Kong, and then re-exported to China. In 1994, Japan's largest export item to China was general machinery, while US largest export item to China was transportation equipment. According to the rivalry index constructed in the paper, competition in 1994 between US and Japanese firms was most intense in the chemical goods sector.     

EU accession and foreign-owned firms in Bulgaria

Bulgaria signed the European Union accession treaty in 2005. Accession caused an increase in the volume of inward foreign direct investment flows (IFDI). We analyse World Bank BEEPS firm-level data for 2007 to understand the characteristics and performance of foreign firms in Bulgaria. Regression analysis reveals that foreign firms are larger, have lower capital-to-labour ratios, are more likely to export and are more likely to locate in Sofia. However, foreign firms have had limited success in Bulgaria. They do not exhibit higher sales growth and, in manufacturing, carried out lower capital investment in machinery than domestic firms. The numbers of visits from tax officials is the same for domestic and foreign firms in manufacturing, and lower for foreign firms in the service sector. However, firms with higher exports-to-sales ratios and higher absolute sales were subjected to a higher number of visits from tax officials. These findings suggest that a range of institutional challenges remain for foreign firms in Bulgaria.     

Export Spillovers of FDI on China's Domestic Firms

This paper examines the horizontal and vertical export spillovers of foreign direct investment (FDI) on China's manufacturing domestic firms by using firm‐level census data over the period of 2000–03. Based on a Heckman two‐step procedure combining first differencing and instrumental variable regression techniques, it is found that FDI has had a positive impact on the export value of domestic firms mainly through backward technology spillovers and a positive impact on the export‐to‐sales ratio of domestic firms through horizontal export‐related information spillovers. After decomposing FDI by different market orientation and domestic firms by different ownership, the paper finds that the positive impact on domestic firms' export values is mainly from the nonexporting and the exporting foreign‐invested enterprises while the positive impact on domestic firms' export‐to‐sales ratios is mainly from the high‐exporting foreign‐invested enterprises. Both types of export spillovers are mainly diffused to domestic non‐state‐owned enterprises.     

The Determinants of Firm Performance and Bribery: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

This paper uses ordinary least squares with firm effects and Probit regression models to investigate the determinants of firm performance and the likelihood of firms to pay bribes. Results for the manufacturing firms in Nigeria show that skilled workforce, exports, foreign ownership and capital investment influence firm performance. Conversely, poor electricity delivery and difficulty obtaining finance impede firm performance. Total sales and time spent dealing with government regulations increase the likelihood of firms to pay bribes. Surprisingly, foreign firms are as much likely to pay bribes as domestic firms. Policy implications from the findings are important considering that the manufacturing sector assumes an important role in the Lewis theory of economic development.     

The determinants of pollution levels: Firm-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing

Using a large, unique, firm-level dataset from the Chinese manufacturing sector, we study important factors that are related to emission intensity for three pollutants in China – sulfur dioxide, wastewater, and soot. Our main findings are as follows: (1) compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), both foreign-owned firms and domestic public-listed firms exhibit less intensive pollutant emissions; (2) firms in regions with less local protection have lower pollution intensity; (3) better property rights protection is negatively correlated with pollutant discharge over and beyond the national standards; and (4) larger firms, firms in industries that export more, and firms with more educated employees pollute less. These results suggest that China should not target foreign firms more harshly in its effort to reduce industrial pollution. Better institutions in the form of more effective law enforcement and lower entry barriers across regional markets are also means of curbing China’s pressing environmental problems during its current stage of economic development.     

The impact of multinational entry on domestic market structure and investment

We model the impact of different modes of multinational entry on the choices of domestic firms. Focusing on the competitive effects of foreign entry for the host country we demonstrate that greenfield investment will increase competition only if it is not countered by anti-competitive reactions on the part of the domestic firms. Together with cross-border mergers and acquisitions the model, thus, provides two alternative explanations for the increase in concentration ratios in industries with mostly horizontal foreign direct investment. Moreover, foreign presence is shown to raise total investment in the local industry at the cost of crowding out domestic investment.     

挤压还是促进?——内需对制造业出口的影响研究

文章结合新古典和新贸易理论研究范式,考察了国内需求对制成品出口的影响。研究发现,制造业中大部分产业的国内需求对出口有显著的正影响,但对于不同行业来说,出口的影响因素有很大差异,超过半数的产业内需对出口的影响已经超过劳动力禀赋的影响,并且贸易自由化会放大内需对出口的影响。我国未来出口将以产业内贸易为主,要更有针对性地采取政策措施以使扩大内需与稳定出口相辅相成,这样才能更大程度地获取贸易收益。     

FDI对我国电子信息产品制造业国际竞争力影响研究

基于FDI对我国电子信息产品制造业生产要素、需求状况、相关产业状况和竞争状况产生影响的理论分析,获得八个解释变量;选取显示性比较优势为被解释变量;利用1998至2008各年统计数据,实证分析FDI对我国电子信息产品制造业国际竞争力的影响。结果表明：内资研发投入、内资的产业集中度、外资资本投入、国内对电子信息产品制造业需求量、我国半导体硅单晶生产额、外资企业销售量占产业销售总量这六个变量显著影响我国该行业国际竞争力,内资资本密集度和外资人力资本强度没有通过显著性检验。     

生产者服务对制造业出口的影响——基于行业面板数据的实证分析

本文分析作为制造业中间投入的生产者服务对我国制造业出口的影响.首先,基于2000-2007年投入产出数据,我们计算了我国制造业出口的国内生产者服务增值份额,结果表明我国制造业单位产品出口中直接和间接的生产者服务投入处于波动中上升的趋势.其次,利用2004-2007年25个行业的数据,我们建立面板数据模型分析生产服务对制造业出口的影响,结果显示:生产者服务对我国制造业出口的增长起促进作用;与金融、保险等高端生产者服务相比较,制造业出口对批发零售、运输仓储等低端生产者服务依赖度较大.最后,论文基于上述研究结论给出了相应的政策建议.     

Financial constraints on export market exit of domestic firms versus foreign multinational corporation subsidiaries in South Korea

Using a Korean manufacturing firm-level data set covering a range of years from 2006 to 2013, this study investigates how the financial condition of firms, such as liquidity, leverage, and cash flow ratio, affects exit from export markets. It also analyses whether the financial status of foreign multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries differs from that of domestic firms with respect to the hazard of export market exit, especially during a global financial crisis. The empirical results confirm that, for domestic firms, the hazard of export market exit is affected by the firms’ financial condition only during a financial crisis. In other words, the financial vulnerability of domestic firms increases during the crisis, resulting in the hazard of export market exit. However, financial situations for foreign MNC subsidiaries do not affect exits from export markets, indicating a ‘finance-factor comparative advantage’.     

Credit constraints and exports: evidence for German manufacturing enterprises

This study uses newly available enterprise-level data for firms from manufacturing industries in Germany to test for the link between credit constraints, measured by a credit-rating score from the leading credit-rating agency Creditreform, and exports. In line with hypotheses from a theoretical model, we find a positive link between a better credit-rating score of a firm and both the probability that the firm is an exporter and a higher share of exports in total sales. This link, though statistically highly significant, is not very strong from an economic point of view. While empirical evidence for the hypothesis that credit-constrained firms are less likely to start to export is, at best, weak, we find no evidence for a statistically significant difference in credit-rating scores between firms that stopped to export and firms that continued to export.