Exprots, FDI, and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Manufacturing Firms

This paper employs nonparametric tests and Japanese firm level data to examine the hypothesis put forward by Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2003) and Head and Ries (2003) that firms engaging in FDI are more productive than other firms. We find that the productivity distribution of foreign firms operating in Japan dominates that of Japanese multinationals, which dominates that of exporters, which in turn dominates that of non-exporters, thus confirming the theoretical predictions.