Exports and Productivity Selection Effects for Dutch Firms

Abstract

This study presents recently available data on the microstructure of Dutch exports and the relation between export participation and productivity at the …rm and establishment-level. We test whether recent theories of international trade with heterogeneous …rms can explain the patterns in the Dutch data. We …nd signi…cant evidence that …rms self-select into export participation, even after controlling for sector and …rm-speci…c characteristics. In general, only the most productive Dutch …rms participate in exports and foreign direct investment. In addition, we do not …nd evidence for the learning-by-exporting hypothesis, even when controlling for the …rm's distance to the international productivity frontier.

Exports, Imports, and Profitability in Thai Manufacturing: Evidence from Establishment-Level Analysis

“…The authors find that the distributions for multinationals dominate that of domestic exporters and non-exporters, but do not find clear differences in plant performance between domestic exporters and non-exporters. Kox and Rojas-Romagosa (2010) present evidence for the Dutch firm/plant-level data in the manufacturing and services sectors. Their results indicate that profitability in exporting firms is higher and that more profitable firms self-select into exporting, but evidence for the learning-by-exporting hypothesis is not found.…”

Productivity and Internationalization: A Micro-Data Approach

“…The empirical counterpart of this research has greatly benefited from the increased availability of individual and firm level data, allowing researchers to identify the importance of heterogeneity. Also in the Netherlands micro data research has recently made a head start as testified by the articles in this special issue (see also Kox andRojas-Romagosa 2010, andCreusen andLejour 2011, for recent examples).…”

The Theoretical Link Between Trade and Productivity

“…Second-one -that foreign competition can force to exit the least productive domestic entities from the market (Augier et al, 2009). Authors Kox and Rojas-Romagosa (2010) analysed only those companies that started export during the years 1999-2005 and compared their productivity indicators with similar companies, which are not exporting. These export starters were not between exporting firms two years before they started export.…”

“…Authors Kox and Rojas-Romagosa (2010) analysed such groups of companies: (1) local companies with only domestic sales, (2) export companies without multinational affiliation, (3) affiliates of foreign MNEs but without exports, and (4) exporting companies with foreign multinational affiliation.…”

“…The size of company is also good indicator for starting exporter, which indicates that economies of scale are important. Authors Kox and Rojas-Romagosa (2010) thought that exporter premia is more important for small companies than for large ones, because entry to foreign market costs are relatively higher for smaller enterprises. But exporter productivity premia is found only for companies where number of employees is higher than 250.…”