Do Imports of Intermediate Inputs Generate Higher Productivity?: Evidence from Ecuadorian Manufacturing

Kathia Pinzón and Paul A. Carrillo Maldonado
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Paul Carrillo-Maldonado and Segundo Camino-Mogro

No 10398, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: International trade is one of the most important ways to improve firms' productivity because of technology transfer from foreign companies. Particularly, imports can generate an improvement in the firms' productive performance by incorporating better inputs in their production processes. This research analyzes, by using an augmented Cobb Douglas production function, the effects of imported intermediates on the production level of manufacturing formal firms in Ecuador for the period 2007-2018, and the causal relationship between the import decision and firm productivity. We estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) at firm level using a flexible Levinsohn-Petrin semiparametric method, in such a way that we solve the problems of endogeneity and simultaneity in the selection of inputs (inherent to this type of estimations). The results show that (1) the elasticity of substitution between foreign and domestic intermediates is 2.44 using the flexible Levinsohn-Petrin estimator in the manufacturing sector, which suggests that they are substitute inputs, that (2) a 100% decrease in the share of domestic intermediates in total intermediates could increase productivity by 16% in all the industry; this result has similar path in Pavitt and technological intensity industries classification, and that (3) when we use an alternative continuous variable of imports such as the intensity of imported inputs on total intermediates, the effect is that a 100% increase in the share of imported inputs increases firm productivity by 2%. In addition, we found robust evidence that the decision to import foreign intermediates improves productivity (the productivity of continuing and entering importers is significantly higher than the productivity of nonimporters), and that there exists self-selection of more productive firms into the import market. Finally, robust evidence was found in favour of the "learning-by-importing" hypothesis.

Keywords: Ecuador; Productivity; Imported intermediates; Self-selection; Learning-by-importing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D24 F10 L11 L60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english ... an-Manufacturing.pdf (application/pdf)

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:idb:brikps:10398

DOI: 10.18235/0002448

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().