Exports and Productivity : The Role of Imported Inputs and Investment in R&D

Manghnani, Ruchita

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GAINS FROM TRADE;    PRODUCTIVITY;    PRICING HETEROGENEITY;    EXPORTS;    IMPORTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-9281
RP-ID  :  WPS9281

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The empirical evidence on within firmproductivity improvements from exports has largely beenunderstated because the measures of revenue productivityused do not account for pricing heterogeneity across firms.Using a panel of Indian firms, the analysis in this papercontrols for firm variation in prices and uses proxy methodsto retrieve measures of productivity that reflect physicalproductivity. Within-firm productivity changes from exportentry are computed using a difference-in-differencesmatching estimator. The findings show that, over a six-yearperiod, the difference in productivity growth between exportentrants and their non-exporter counterparts is about 11percentage points. Thus, productivity improvements fromselling in international markets have largely beenunderstated in the export-productivity empirical literature.This difference in productivity growth is decomposed intotwo channels. About 15 percent of the difference inproductivity growth is explained by higher imports ofintermediate inputs, and about 85 percent is explained byinvestment in research and development. The evidencesuggests that investment in research and development is animportant source of within-firm productivity gains even indeveloping countries.