Exporters' characteristics and the margins of trade
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17811/ebl.1.2.2012.10-15Abstract
This paper investigates the influence of exporting countries' characteristics on the number of exporters (extensive margin) and average exports value per firm (intensive margin). For that purpose, we use a new database compiled by the OECD and Eurostat in year 2005, which allows the calculation of trade margins in bilateral relationships involving a large number of exporting and importing countries. We find that there is almost a one to one relationship between exporters' GDP and the number of firms that participate in export markets. This proportionality remains when we decompose GDP into an employment component and a labor productivity component. Our results also show that exporters' labor productivity is positively linked with the intensive margin of exports.
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