TY - CHAP

T1 - Higher Productivity in Importing German Manufacturing Firms

T2 - Self-selection, Learning from Importing or Both?

AU - Vogel, Alexander

AU - Wagner, Joachim

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

PY - 2016/7/1

Y1 - 2016/7/1

N2 - This chapter uses a newly available comprehensive panel data set for manufacturing enterprises from 2001 to 2005 to document the first empirical results on the relationship between imports and productivity for Germany, a leading actor in the world market for goods. Furthermore, for the first time, the direction of causality in this relationship is investigated systematically by testing for self-selection of more productive firms into importing, and for productivity-enhancing effects of imports (“learning-by-importing”). We find a positive link between importing and productivity. From an empirical model with fixed enterprise effects that controls for firm size, industry and unobservable firm heterogeneity, we see that the premia for trading internationally are about the same in West and East Germany. Compared to firms that do not trade at all, two-way traders do have the highest premia, followed by firms that only export, while firms that only import have the smallest estimated premia. We find evidence for a positive impact of productivity on importing, pointing to self-selection of more productive enterprises into imports, but no clear evidence for the effect of importing on productivity due to learning-by-importing.

AB - This chapter uses a newly available comprehensive panel data set for manufacturing enterprises from 2001 to 2005 to document the first empirical results on the relationship between imports and productivity for Germany, a leading actor in the world market for goods. Furthermore, for the first time, the direction of causality in this relationship is investigated systematically by testing for self-selection of more productive firms into importing, and for productivity-enhancing effects of imports (“learning-by-importing”). We find a positive link between importing and productivity. From an empirical model with fixed enterprise effects that controls for firm size, industry and unobservable firm heterogeneity, we see that the premia for trading internationally are about the same in West and East Germany. Compared to firms that do not trade at all, two-way traders do have the highest premia, followed by firms that only export, while firms that only import have the smallest estimated premia. We find evidence for a positive impact of productivity on importing, pointing to self-selection of more productive enterprises into imports, but no clear evidence for the effect of importing on productivity due to learning-by-importing.

KW - enterprise panel data

KW - exports

KW - Germany

KW - Imports

KW - productivity

KW - Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135683462&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/e80c4867-3ede-34db-a7fe-1d75be3e395d/

U2 - 10.1142/9789813109698_0004

DO - 10.1142/9789813109698_0004

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85135683462

SN - 9789813109681

T3 - World Scientific Studies in International Economics

SP - 139

EP - 174

BT - Microeconometrics of International Trade

A2 - Wagner, Joachim

PB - World Scientific Publishing Co.

ER -