Export Variety and Country Productivity

Feenstra, Robert ; Looi Kee, Hiau

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: AGRICULTURE;    ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY;    AVERAGE PRODUCTIVITY;    BASE YEAR;    BASIC METALS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3412
RP-ID  :  WPS3412

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 authors study the link betweenexport product variety and country productivity based ondata from 34 industrial and developing countries, from 1982to 1997. They measure export product variety by the share ofU.S. imports on the set of goods exported by each sampledcountry relative to the world. It is a theoretically soundindex which is consistent with within-country GDPmaximization, as well as cross-country comparison. Theyconstruct country productivity based on relative endowmentsand product variety. Increases in output product varietyimprove country productivity as the new mix of output maybetter use resources of the economy, and improve allocationefficiency. Such effects depend on the elasticity ofsubstitution in production between the different varieties.The more different the varieties are in terms of production,the more efficient it is to use the endowments of theeconomy when a new variety is available, which leads toproductivity gains. In addition, as suggested in theliterature, export product variety depends on trade costs,such as tariffs, distance, and transport costs. Such tradecost variables are used as instruments to help the authorsidentify the effects of export variety on countryproductivity. Empirical evidence supports their hypothesis.Overall, while export variety accounts for only 2 percent ofcross-country productivity differences, it explains 13percent of within-country productivity growth. A 10 percentincrease in the export variety of all industries leads to a1.3 percent increase in country productivity, while a 10percentage point increase in tariffs facing an exportingcountry leads to a 2 percent fall in country productivity.