A Note on Detecting Learning by Exporting

Jan De Loecker

No 8121, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Learning by exporting refers to the mechanism whereby firms improve their performance (productivity) after entering export markets. Although this mechanism is often mentioned in policy documents, a significant share of econometric studies has not found evidence for this hypothesis. This paper shows that the methods used to come to the latter conclusion suffer from a large internal inconsistency: they rely on an exogenous evolving productivity process. I show how recent proxy estimators can accommodate endogenous productivity processes such as learning by exporting. I rely on my framework to discuss the bias introduced by ignoring such a process and how adjusting for it can lead to detect significant productivity gains upon export entry. I estimate my model on standard firm-level data and find substantial additional productivity gains from entering export markets.

Keywords: Productivity; Learning by exporting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F0 L6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Related works:
Working Paper: A note on detecting learning by exporting (2010)
Working Paper: A note on detecting learning by exporting (2010)
Working Paper: A Note on Detecting Learning by Exporting (2010)
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