The exporter productivity premium along the productivity distribution: Evidence from quantile regression with nonadditive firm fixed effects

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

A vast literature on the international activities of heterogeneous firms finds the existence of a positive exporter productivity premium. On average, exporting firms are more productive than firms that sell on the national market only. The Melitz [2003] model, however, has implications for not only mean differences but also differences in the distribution of productivity. Furthermore, exporting firms may be different from non-exporting firms for reasons that are not included in the Melitz model. We believe that conditioning on firm fixed effects and studying the distribution of productivity are both necessary for empirical tests of the Melitz model. This paper is the first to introduce such a method by employing a new quantile estimation technique for panel data introduced in Powell [2013]. We find that the premium is positive at all productivity levels, but highest at the lowest quantiles. These results support theoretical models which suggest that there is a division in productivity between exporters and non-exporters.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMicroeconometric Studies Of Firms Imports And Exports : Advanced Methods Of Analysis And Evidence From German Enterprises
EditorsJoachim Wagner
Number of pages29
PublisherWorld Scientific Publishing Co.
Publication date25.02.2021
Pages121-149
ISBN (print)9781786349682
ISBN (electronic)9781786349705
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25.02.2021

    Research areas

  • Exporter productivity premium, Panel data, Quantile treatment effects
  • Economics