Does export-market participation improve productivity? Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

Patricia Augier and Marion Dovis ()
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Patricia Augier: GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This article has a dual aim. First, it sets out to underline a learning-by-exporting effect in Spanish firms between 1991 and 2002. It further seeks to outline the conditions allowing firms to benefit from these spillover effects. Using a propensity score matching method, a group of firms having entered the export market (treatment group) is compared with a similar group of non-exporting firms (control group), and difference-in-differences regressions are carried out. The results show a cumulative productivity differential of 32% for the first four years of exporting, with continuous improvement in productivity. After three years of exporting, productivity gain is still approximately 10%. This study shows that increases in capacity utilisation and competitive pressure from foreign markets are insufficient to explain this causal link between exporting and total factor productivity (TFP). It is thus possible to deduce the presence of a learning-by-exporting effect, benefiting firms with sufficiently qualified employees and which are already engaged in international relations (due to foreign suppliers and/or foreign equity participation).

Keywords: Economie; quantitative (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, 2013, 22 (7), pp.1059--1087. ⟨10.1080/09638199.2011.637116⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01498266

DOI: 10.1080/09638199.2011.637116

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