Learning, Prices, and Firm Dynamics

Bastos, Paulo ; Dias, Daniel A. ; Timoshenko, Olga A.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: MERCHANDISE;    UCT;    E-MAIL;    EXPORT MARKETS;    SUBSTITUTION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7667
RP-ID  :  WPS7667

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper documents new facts about thejoint evolution of firm performance and prices ininternational markets and proposes a theory of firm dynamicsemphasizing the interaction between learning about demandand quality choice to explain the observed patterns. Usingdata from the Portuguese manufacturing sector, the paperdocuments that: (1) within narrow product categories, firmswith longer spells of activity in export destinations tendto ship larger quantities at similar prices, thus obtaininglarger export revenue; (2) older exporters tend to importmore expensive inputs; and (3) revenue growth withindestinations (conditional on initial size) tends to declinewith market experience. The authors develop a model ofendogenous input and output quality choices in a learningenvironment that is able to quantitatively account for thesepatterns. Counterfactual simulations reveal that minimumquality standards on exports reduce welfare by loweringentry in export markets and reallocating resources from oldand large toward young and small firms.