Fixed Export Costs and Export Behavior

This article provides a direct assessment of how fixed export costs (FECs) and productivity jointly determine firm‐level export behavior. Using Chilean data, we construct indices of FECs for each industry‐region‐year triplet and match them to domestic firms. Our empirical results show that firms facing higher estimated FECs are less likely to export, while those with higher productivity export more. These outcomes are the foundation of the widely‐used sorting mechanism in trade models with firm heterogeneity. We also find that the substitution between FECs and productivity in determining export decisions is weaker for firms with higher productivity. Finally, among firms that export, both larger FECs and greater within‐triplet productivity dispersion are associated with a greater export volume of the average exporter.     

Relative export prices and firm size in imperfect markets

This paper contributes to the rising field in international trade and industrial organization. A vast sample of Italian micro data is used to study the behavior of relative export prices in imperfect markets. It is shown that relative export prices, the relation of prices a firm charges on export and domestic markets, are, in general, downward biased. Moreover, relative export prices depend negatively on firm size and market concentration, but positively on the average export share of the industry. This indicates that markets are segmented and firms are able to discriminate prices.     

Exchange Rate Pass‐through to China's Export Price: A Product‐level Investigation

Exchange rate movement usually results in changes in the production costs of exporting firms, and, therefore, the prices and the quantity of traded products. The present paper constructs a theoretical model to demonstrate that export products with higher productivity, or with larger market share, or of higher quality will experience a less complete pass‐through. Using the six‐digit harmonized system export data from the CEPII database over the period of 2000 to 2013, the present paper examines how product heterogeneity affects the exchange rate pass‐through of Chinese exports. The empirical results show that the most competitive Chinese export products, or those least affected by exchange rate risks, are those of higher quality, with higher technological complexity and at the high end of the international value chain. Therefore, Chinese exporting firms should pay more attention to improving export quality and upgrading technology to better cope with exchange rate risks and to enjoy more bargaining power in the international market.     

Effects of presidents’ characteristics on internationalization of small and medium firms in Japan

Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export activity and foreign direct investment. In practice, however, many productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are, which suggests that there are factors other than productivity that influence firms’ internationalization. This study uses a unique panel data set for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to examine whether the personal characteristics of a firm’s president are factors in firm internationalization. We find that SMEs with a risk-tolerant, forward-looking president are more likely to be internationalized. These effects are large in magnitude, as is the productivity effect, which provides a partial explanation as to why many productive firms are not internationalized. In addition, we find that productivity has an insignificant effect on firms exiting export markets, whereas presidential myopia increases the probability of exit. The evidence further suggests that a firm’s initial export costs become sunk following its entry into export markets, which explains why many unproductive firms are internationalized.     

Economic Value of Country Image: Evidence from International Trade and Implications for China

This paper examines the economic value of country image from the perspective of export prices through matching the CEPII export price data with the British Broadcasting Company country image data from 2006 to 2013. The estimation results show that positive country image has an “elevating” effect and negative country image has a “depressing” effect on export prices. The results also indicate that the lower the level of economic development of an export or import country, the stronger the export price effect of country image. As distances between export countries and trading partners increase, the elevating effect of positive country image on export prices becomes weaker. However, the depressing effect of negative country image does not become weaker over greater distances. We find that export prices are depressed by negative country image to a greater degree for China than for other countries. Therefore, it is necessary for China to prevent the occurrence of incidents detrimental to country image.     

Nexus between export,productivity, and competitiveness in the Indian manufacturing sector

This article assesses the nexus between export, productivity, and competitiveness in the Indian manufacturing sector. To do this, we examine the “learning by exporting” and “self-selection” hypotheses using firm-level data relating to Indian manufacturing firms relating to period from 1994 to 2017. The empirical analysis supports the “learning by exporting” hypothesis, but does not support the “self-selection” hypothesis. We also investigate the impact of export on competitiveness, and the results indicate a positive relationship. These findings remain consistent when we segregate manufacturing firms based on industries, intensity use of labor and capital, and firm ownership. In the light of these findings, we recommend that policy focus on enhancing the export capacity of manufacturing firms to further strengthen the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing.     

Does importing more inputs raise exports? Firm-level evidence from France

Does an increase in imported inputs raise exports? We provide empirical evidence on the direct and indirect channels via which importing more varieties of intermediate inputs increases export scope: (1) imported inputs may enhance productivity and thereby help the firm to overcome export fixed costs (the indirect productivity channel); (2) low-priced imported inputs may boost expected export revenue (the direct-cost channel); and (3) importing intermediate inputs may reduce export fixed costs by providing the quality/technology required in demanding export markets (the quality/technology channel). We use firm-level data on imports at the product (HS6) level provided by French Customs for the 1996–2005 period, and distinguish the origin of imported inputs (developing vs. developed countries) in order to disentangle the different productivity channels above. Regarding the indirect effect, imported inputs raise productivity, and thereby exports, both through greater complementarity of inputs and technology/quality transfer. Controlling for productivity, imports of intermediate inputs from developed and developing countries also have a direct impact on the number of exported varieties. Both quality/technology and price channels are at play. These findings are robust to specifications that explicitly deal with potential reverse causality between imported inputs and export scope.     

生产率是出口决定因素吗?——基于中国企业的实证分析

本文使用1999～2003年全国制造业企业调查数据实证分析影响中国企业出口的因素,特别是企业生产率对出口的贡献。为了得到有效的实证结果,我们采用了OP方法及动态面板GMM估计,特别控制了零贸易观测值产生的估计偏差。研究发现:企业规模、企业出口经验和企业生产率是影响中国企业出口行为的3个重要因素,其中企业规模是最重要的因素,企业生产率对出口的贡献要小于企业规模和企业出口经验,企业区位和外资企业虚拟变量也是影响企业出口的因素。研究表明,中国的出口扩张依赖于资源和劳动力投入而非依赖于企业生产率的提高,中国出口的增长是一种粗放型增长。     

融资约束、产品质量与出口目的地选择

文章将融资约束、产品质量引入异质性企业贸易模型,研究企业融资约束对其出口目的地选择的影响,并从产品质量的视角进行机制分析。理论模型推导得出企业生产率与其在低收入国家出口占比呈负相关关系,而融资约束的存在则强化了这种负相关关系。通过理论分析发现,生产率、融资约束对于企业最优产品质量选择的决策会产生相反的影响,在不同收入水平的国家对产品质量偏好不同的情况下,这种机制恰恰可能解释了企业出口目的地选择的差异。文章使用中国微观企业贸易数据,进行实证研究发现：融资约束与企业出口低收入国家贸易占比成正向关系,此外融资约束与生产率之间存在着调节效应,生产率的提高可以缓解企业由于受到融资约束带来的影响。     

Using export market performance to evaluate regional preferential policies in China

We evaluate the effectiveness of two types of preferential regional policy programs in China’s manufacturing sector. The primary goal of the Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZs) is to facilitate internationalization strategies, while Science and Technology Industrial Parks (STIPs) aim to generate technology spillovers. Various dimensions of export market performance are used as objective indicators for the upgrading of product quality and firm operations. We compare startups that locate into one of these zones with startups on the outside, while controlling for self-selection using treatment evaluation methods. The results indicate that firms locating in an ETDZ achieve much higher export values, driven by higher volumes of trade and numbers of destinations. Firms locating in a STIP perform best on quality dimensions. In particular they fetch higher export prices and have more success exporting to high-income countries.     

Trade integration and within-plant productivity evolution in Chile

We analyze the impact of trade integration on plant TFP using Chilean plant-level data (1982–1999) and 3-digit bilateral trade flows. Our contribution is to disentangle the impact of export and import barriers, estimated as border effects within a multilateral context. A fall in export barriers is positively correlated with plant productivity in traded sectors. The reduction of import barriers, however, can only be associated to productivity improvements in export-oriented sectors. In import-competing sectors a robust positive correlation shows up between plant productivity and protection. We then test several channels linking trade integration and firm productivity.     

融资约束、生产率与异质性企业的出口竞争力——微观基础的中国经验考察

本文基于企业异质性贸易模型,探讨了融资约束和生产率对出口竞争力的共同影响机制,从企业的内部治理和外部环境两个层面,利用中国2004～2009年的企业样本数据经验考察了出口竞争力的影响因素。研究发现,生产率对企业出口促进贡献还有赖于其融资水平,尤其需要克服融资的阈值效应,避免危机时期优秀企业被"逆淘汰";政策启示在于强调对高生产率企业建立政府"临危保护制度",并引导企业强化内部治理能力;最后需要强化物质要素之外的服务型要素竞争优势,从而继续维持我国贸易的"大国优势"。     

The costs of non-tariff barriers to trade: Evidence from New Zealand

The Costs of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade: Evidence from New Zealand. — Recent work on trade policy with imperfect competition indicates that the adverse effects of non-tariff barriers to trade exceed those suggested by traditional theory. With market power in foreign supply, setting a restrictive non-tariff barrier will induce foreign exporters to raise their supply prices. The authors use the experiment provided by the comprehensive New Zealand economic reforms of the mid-1980s. Using panel data on export unit values from Germany and the United States to several destinations including New Zealand, they find some evidence for decreased export prices to New Zealand as a result of the dismantling of non-tariff barriers to trade.     

Input Trade Liberalization and the Export Duration of Products: Evidence from China

This paper introduces a quasi‐natural experimental framework into trade policy evaluation and reassesses China's trade liberalization through the survival of export products. We use propensity score matching and China's dual trade system to design a quasi‐natural experiment based on Chinese industrial enterprises, customs import and export, and tariff data over the period of 2000–2006; we then use survival analysis to study the impacts of China's trade liberalization on the export duration of manufacturing firms’ products. We find that the substantial reduction in import tariffs after China's accession to the World Trade Organization enhances the export duration of firm products, indicating that trade liberalization ameliorates the survival of export products. The promotion effects of tariff reduction on export duration are obviously stronger for core products than for noncore products.     

The minimum wage,exports, and firm performance: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines the interrelationship between changes in the provincial minimum wage, firms’ export behavior, and firms’ performance in Indonesia. In this regard, we apply a two-stage least squares regression analysis to detailed firm-level data of manufacturing enterprises during 2002–2014. We find that an increase in the minimum wage is associated with a decrease in a firm’s employment and productivity, but increase in its probability of exporting and markup. We also use the 2012 minimum wage reform in Indonesia to conduct a difference-in-difference analysis to further mitigate the potential endogeneity of minimum wage regulation. Our findings are generally robust to alternative estimation methods. Moreover, quantile regression results indicate that the average wage, firm size, and the education level of workers also affect the predictions. Above all, this study suggests that Indonesian exports and the country’s comparative advantage in international markets are not negligibly affected by higher labor costs caused by the growth in the minimum wage.     

Do High-technology Exports Cause More Technology Spillover in China？

The volume of China’s high-technology exports has grown sharply since the implementation of its export promotion strategy "Revitalizing Trade through Science and Technology" in 1999.This paper investigates whether technology spillover effects are greater for hightechnology exports than for primary manufactured goods exports.We present a generalized multi-sector spillover model to identify both between spillover effects from exports towards non-exporters and within-spillover effects among export sectors.Using panel data for 31 provinces in China over the period from 1998 to 2005,we find that although high-technology export sectors have higher productivity compared with other sectors,this productivity advantage does not lead to technology spillover to both domestic sectors and other export sectors,and export technology spillover mainly derives from traditional export sectors rather than high-technology export sectors.As such findings can be largely attributed to the fact that China’s high-technology exports depend significantly on processing trade by foreign- invested firms,policy implications are discussed in relation to how to best promote the role of China’s high-technology exports during economic expansion.     

Markups and export-pricing strategies

We analyze empirically export-price strategies across export destinations using detailed firm-product data. Most recent studies using disaggregated data to investigate why firms charge different prices for the same product on different markets focus on the cost component of prices and neglect the markup component. In this paper, we concentrate on the markup component and examine how variations in firms’ export prices may reflect price discrimination by comparing the markup of firms with different pricing strategies. We make use of detailed firm-level data for exporting firms in the Swedish food sector consisting of both manufacturing and intermediary trading firms. The paper documents the export-price variations within the two sub-sectors and explores how different price strategies correlate with markups. The results offer new information beyond the fact that exporters tend to have a higher markup. In particular, we find that firms in the food-processing sector with a greater ability to discriminate across markets mark their products up even more. This result points to the importance of underlying firm decisions in order to explain differences in export premiums across firms. In addition, the results reveal that markups are a complex function of firm and destination characteristics, and that the relationship between markups and pricing strategies in the manufacturing sector is not necessarily observed in other sectors of the supply chain.     

Export entry and exit by German firms

Export Entry and Exit by German Firms. — While exports have played an important role in German business cycles, little is known about the export supply response of German firms. This paper presents a dynamic model of the export decision by a profit-maximizing firm. Using a panel of German manufacturing plants, we test for the role of plant characteristics and sunk costs in the entry decision. We find evidence for substantial sunk costs: exporting today by a plant increases the probability by 50 percent that the plant will export tomorrow. This advantage depreciates quickly, falling by two-thirds in a year. The authors also find evidence that plant success, as measured by size and productivity, increases the likelihood of exporting.     

The Discriminating Beta: Prices and Capacity with Correlated Demands

Uniform customer‐class pricing can do much of the work of congestion‐based or time‐of‐day pricing in communication or wireless networks. A monopolist exploits differences in the stochastic characteristics of demands. If demands are correlated and the firm faces a capacity constraint, then it can set prices to reduce the variability of aggregate demand, thereby reducing the probability of excess demand and the associated service quality deterioration. Demands that covary negatively with aggregate demand are valuable to the firm in much the same way that securities that covary negatively with the market are valuable in a stock portfolio. Customer classes that exhibit low covariance with aggregate demand realize lower optimal prices. Optimal capacity is also affected by these covariances. As long as demands are not perfectly positively correlated, expected costs of joint production are less than expected costs of serving demands separately.     

A new look at the effects of export instability on investment and growth

This paper is concerned with the effects of export instability on investment and growth. It is shown that past cross-sectional empirical studies on the effects of export instability (either in prices or in value terms) used an incorrect measure of instability that does not properly take account of the share of exports in GDP. Using a new instability index and a broad set of conditioning variables, it is shown that export instability was positively associated with investment but negatively associated with growth in a large sample of countries during the period from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s.