Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation,
Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

No 299: Are low-productive exporters marginal exporters? Evidence from Germany

Joachim Wagner ()
Additional contact information
Joachim Wagner: Leuphana University, Lueneburg and CESIS, Stockholm, Postal: Leuphana University Lueneburg, Institute of Economics, PO Box 2440, D-21314 Lueneburg, , Germany, , CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: A stylized fact from the emerging literature on the micro-econometrics of international trade and a central implication of the heterogeneous firm models from the new new trade theory is that exporters are more productive than non-exporters. It is argued that this exporter-productivity premium is due to extra cost of exporting that can be covered profitably by more productive firms only. Germany is a case in point - exporting firms from manufacturing industries are more productive than non-exporting firms from the same 4-digit industry both on average and over the whole productivity distribution. However, many firms from the lower end of this distribution are exporters. This paper report that these low-productivity exporters are not marginal exporters defined according to the share of exports in total sales, or export participation over time, or the number of goods exported, or the number of countries exported to.

Keywords: Exports; productivity; low-productive exporters

JEL-codes: F14

22 pages, March 5, 2013

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