Learning by exporting or self-selection into exporting?

Youssouf Kiendrebeogo

Middle East Development Journal, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 304-325

Abstract: This paper explores the export-productivity relationship using firm-level data from Egypt over the 2003–2008 period. Previous studies using data from developed countries suggest that self-selection is the main driver of the exporter premium. Using a propensity-score matching difference-in-difference approach, we find that both labor productivity and total factor productivity are significantly higher for exporters than for non-exporters. On average, labor productivity and total factor productivity are, respectively, 43% and 61% higher for exporting firms than for domestically-oriented firms. Accounting for the level of development of destination countries, we find that this export premium is due to a learning-by-exporting process rather than just a self-selection of more productive firms into exporting. In contrast to exporters to OECD countries, exporters to Non-OECD countries self-select into export markets, signaling the importance of the technical assistance from OECD buyers.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17938120.2020.1756105 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rmdjxx:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:304-325

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rmdj20

DOI: 10.1080/17938120.2020.1756105

Access Statistics for this article

Middle East Development Journal is currently edited by Raimundo Soto

More articles in Middle East Development Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().