We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more productive than non-exporters when observed and unobserved heterogeneity are controlled for, and these exporter productivity premia tend to increase with the share of exports in total sales; there is strong evidence in favour of self-selection of more productive firms into export markets, but nearly no evidence in favour of the learning-by-exporting hypothesis. We document that the exporter premia differ considerably across countries in identically specified empirical models. In a meta-analysis of our results we find that countries that are more open and have more effective government report higher productivity premia. However, the level of development per se does not appear to be an explanation for the observed cross-country differences.
Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality data at the plant level, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between productivity and size of the export market for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for manufactured goods. It documents that firms that export to countries inside the euro-zone are more productive than firms that sell their products in Germany only, but less productive than firms that export to countries outside the euro-zone, too. This is in line with the hypothesis that export markets outside the euro-zone have higher entry costs that can only by paid by more productive firms.
Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality longitudinal data at the plant level, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between exports and productivity for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for manufactured goods. It applies and extends the now standard approach from the international literature to document that the positive productivity differential of exporters compared to non-exporters is statistically significant, and substantial, even when observed firm characteristics and unobserved firm specific effects are controlled for. For West German plants (but not for East German plants) some empirical evidence for self-selection of more productive firms into export markets is found. There is no evidence for the hypothesis that plants which start to export perform better in the three years after the start than their counterparts which do not start to sell their products on the world market. Results for West Germany support the hypothesis that the productivity differential between exporters and nonexporters is at least in part the result of a market driven selection process in which those export starters that have low productivity at starting time fail as a successful exporter in the years after the start, and only those that were more productive at starting time continue to export.
Mikrosimulationsmodelle erlauben zielorientierte Simulationen, um die Wirkungen alternativer Politiken, Handlungen, Szenarien vorzugsweise auf der Basis von Mikroeinheiten, wie Personen, Familien, Haushalte, Firmen etc., zu untersuchen. Mittlerweile steht es außer Frage, dass Mikrosimulationsmodelle ein hilfreiches, erfolgreiches und zwingendes Instrument für ein breites Spektrum von Politikanalysen in der politischen Administration, im Geschäftsleben, in privaten und universitären Institutionen und Beratungsunternehmen generell sind. Obwohl heute eine Vielzahl von Mikrosimulationsmodellen entwickelt und im Gebrauch sind, benötigen sie in den meisten Fällen immer noch ein ausgebildetes Vorwissen und Erfahrung in der Anwendung oder ein anderes Programmsystem als Basis. Ein generelles, eigenständiges und Plattform unabhängiges Mikrosimulationsmodell ist gefragt, das alle notwendigen Simulationswerkzeuge unter einem gemeinsamen Dach zur Verfügung stellt, und das leicht für Nichtexperten zu nutzen ist. Ziel dieser Studie und des neuen MICSIM-4J ist es, ein solches benutzerfreundliches mächtiges generelles Mikrosimulationsmodell nicht-technisch zu beschreiben und zu offerieren, um die Wirkungsanalyse auf der Mikroebene für die angewandte Forschung, Lehre und Beratung zu unterstützen. Obwohl das von anderen Programmsystemen unabhängige MICSIM-4J als ein generelles Werkzeug auch die dynamische Modellierung erlaubt, liegt der Fokus doch auf der statischen Mikrosimulation mit einem mächtigen Modul für die Hochrechnung von Mikrodaten.