Exporting and environmental performance: where you export matters

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan S. Blyde ◽  
Mayra A. Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
High Income ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Relationship

Empirical analyses that rely on micro-level panel data have found that exporters are generally less pollutant than non-exporters. While alternative explanations have been proposed, firm level data has not been used to examine the role of destination markets behind the relationship between exports and pollution. In this paper we argue that because consumers in high-income countries have higher valuations for clean environments than consumers in developing countries, exporters targeting high-income countries are more likely to improve their environmental outcomes than exporters targeting destinations where valuations for the environment are not high. Using a panel of firm-level data from Chile we find support to this hypothesis. A 10 percentage point increase in the share of exports to high-income countries is associated with a reduction in CO2 pollution intensity of about 16%. The results have important implications for firms in developing countries aiming to target high-income markets.

scholarly journals Creative Destruction of Industries: Yokohama City in the Great Kanto Earthquake, 1923

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuji Okazaki ◽  
Toshihiro Okubo ◽  
Eric Strobl
Keyword(s):  
Creative Destruction ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Machine Technology ◽  
Kanto Earthquake ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Before And After

The Great Kanto Earthquake occurred on 1 September 1923 and inflicted serious damage on Yokohama City. About 90 percent of the factories in Yokohama City were burnt down or completely destroyed. However, these manufacturing industries appear to have swiftly recovered in the aftermath of the damage. This article investigates the role of creative destruction due to the Great Kanto Earthquake. Using firm-level data on capital (horsepower of motors) before and after the earthquake, we find substantial creative destruction, that is, upgrade of machine technology and/or survival of efficient firms. We find further collaborating evidence of this at the prefecture level.

scholarly journals The Origins and Dynamics of Export Superstars

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-47
Author(s):  
Caroline Freund ◽  
Martha Denisse Pierola
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Large Firm ◽  
Export Growth ◽  
Export Diversification ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
New Firms ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Manufacturing Trade

Abstract Export superstars are important for export growth and diversification and are typically born large. Firm-level data on manufacturing trade from 32 developing countries show that the top five exporters account for on average nearly one-third of exports, 47 percent of export growth, and a third of the growth due to export diversification over a five-year period. Within countries and industries, export growth is positively correlated with the share of exports in the top five firms. Most of the top five exporters were already large five (or eight) years ago or are new firms; it is rare for these export superstars to emerge from the bottom half of the distribution of firm sizes. For countries where detailed data exist, superstars are producers, not traders, and are primarily foreign owned.

A neglected input to production: the role of ICT-schooled employees in firm performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Hagsten ◽  
Anna Sabadash
Keyword(s):  
Data Sets ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Broadband Internet ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Econometric Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to broaden the perspective on how information and communication technology (ICT) relates to productivity by introducing a novel ICT variable: the share of ICT-schooled employees in firms, an intangible input often neglected or difficult to measure. Design/methodology/approach Based on a Cobb-Douglas production function specification, the association between the share of ICT-schooled employees and firm productivity is estimated by the use of unique comparable multi-linked firm-level data sets from statistical offices in six European countries for the period of 2001-2009. Findings There are indications that the share of ICT-schooled employees significantly and positively relates to productivity, and also that this relationship is generally more persistent than that of ICT intensity of firms, measured as the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees. However, the strength of the association varies across countries and demonstrates that underlying factors, such as industry structure and institutional settings might be of importance too. Research limitations/implications Data features and the way to access harmonised firm-level data across countries affect the choice of econometric approach and output variable. Practical implications The results emphasise the importance of specific ICT skills in firms independently of where in the organisation the employee works. Originality/value Studies on associations between employees with specific (higher) education based on formal credentials and productivity are rare. Even more uncommon is the cross-country setting with harmonised data including general ICT intensity of firms.

Failing to Learn from Failure: How Optimism Impedes Entrepreneurial Innovation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Daniele Amore ◽  
Orsola Garofalo ◽  
Victor Martin-Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Dispositional Optimism ◽  
Belief Updating ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
The Relationship

Extant research shows that entrepreneurs are typically overly optimistic about their ventures’ prospects and that such optimism hampers performance. We analyze how dispositional optimism affects the adjustments to entrepreneurs’ expectations after they receive negative feedback on their task performance. We then explore the relationship between optimism and the effectiveness of innovation. Exploiting unique firm-level data and a laboratory experiment involving 205 entrepreneurs, we find that dispositional optimism is negatively associated with both the likelihood and extent of belief updating in response to negative feedback. Furthermore, dispositional optimism triggers a discrepancy—between innovation inputs and outputs—that reduces a firm’s innovation effectiveness.

scholarly journals Diagnosing cluster competitiveness using firm-level data in the profit—growth nexus framework

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Áron Perényi
Keyword(s):  
Firm Level ◽  
Robust Solution ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Comparative Examination ◽  
Cluster Level ◽  
Profit Growth

Competitiveness is defined at the level of firms, clusters, regions, and nations. Although researchers have extensively explored the concept of competitiveness in each of these respective categories, an understanding of the relationship between levels of competitiveness is lacking. The simple aggregation of indicators to approximate broader categories of competitiveness is challenged as a robust solution. This paper proposes an alternative solution to aggregating firm-level competitiveness, based on the profit—growth nexus. Using data collected from SMEs in two ICT clusters, the size— profit—growth relationships were tested. Based on 83 Hungarian and 71 Australian responses, positive relationships were found in both samples, demonstrating high cluster-level competitiveness. It is argued that this outcome better represents cluster-level competitiveness based on firm-level data, than other — linear and additive — aggregation methods. However, a comparative examination of the data across the clusters showed significant differences between the results of the two samples, ascertaining limitations for the generalisability of the results.

scholarly journals Cross-Country Differences in Productivity: The Role of Allocation and Selection

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bartelsman ◽  
John Haltiwanger ◽  
Stefano Scarpetta
Keyword(s):  
Heterogeneous Firms ◽  
Fixed Capital ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
Cross Country

This paper investigates the effect of idiosyncratic (firm-level) policy distortions on aggregate outcomes. Exploiting harmonized firm-level data for a number of countries, we show that there is substantial and systematic cross-country variation in the within-industry covariance between size and productivity. We develop a model in which heterogeneous firms face adjustment frictions (overhead labor and quasi-fixed capital) and distortions. The model can be readily calibrated so that variations in the distribution of distortions allow matching the observed cross-country moments. We show that the differences in the distortions that account for the size-productivity covariance imply substantial differences in aggregate performance. (JEL D24, L25, O47)

scholarly journals The Role of Startups in Structural Transformation

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 219-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Dent ◽  
Fatih Karahan ◽  
Benjamin Pugsley ◽  
Ayşegül Şahin
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Firm Dynamics ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
The Past ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Firm Level Data ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. economy has been going through a striking structural transformation--the secular reallocation of employment across sectors--over the past several decades. We propose a decomposition framework to assess the contributions of various margins of firm dynamics to this shift. Using firm-level data, we find that at least 50 percent of the adjustment has been taking place along the entry margin, due to sectors receiving different shares of startup employment than their employment shares. The rest is mostly due to life cycle differences across sectors. Declining overall entry has a small but growing effect of dampening structural transformation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document