Determinants of export performance of Ukrainian firms

Following the new strand in the new trade theory literature that focuses on firm heterogeneity in this paper we investigate determinants of firm export performance in Ukraine. The study is based on the BEEPS firm level data compiled by EBRD and the World Bank. The study covers the period starting in 2005 and ending in 2013. We estimate probit regressions for each year of our sample as well as for the pooled dataset that includes all years. Our pooled estimation results indicate that the probability of exporting is related to the level of productivity, the firm size, R&D expenditure, the share of university graduates in productive employment, as well as the internationalization of firms. The estimation results obtained for particular countries reveal some degree of heterogeneity. In particular, the firm age is significant only in the last years of our sample.