This paper uses a newly available comprehensive panel data set for manufacturing enterprises from 2001 to 2005 to document the first empirical results on the relationship between imports and productivity for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for goods. Furthermore, for the first time...

A wide range of empirical studies has analysed exporter performance, especially the relationship between exports and productivity in the manufacturing sector. By contrast, a detailed investigation of the services sector has remained largely neglected. To close this gap, this paper focuses on the...

This paper contributes to the literature by providing the first evidence on the link between innovation activities (measured by the share of engineers and scientists in the workforce) and exports of German business services firms based on a large representative longitudinal sample of...

This paper uses newly available data for German business services firms to test a hypothesis derived by Bustos (AER 2011) in a model that explains the decision of heterogeneous firms to export and to engage in R&D. Using a non-parametric test for first order stochastic dominance it is shown...

A large and growing number of micro-econometric studies show that exporting firms are more productive than firms that sell their products on the home market only. This so-called exporter productivity premium qualifies as a stylized fact. Only recently researchers started to look at the role of...

This study uses newly available representative data from German business services firms and a continuous treatment approach based on the generalized propensity score to test for a causal effect of R&D activities (measured by the share of engineers and natural scientists in all employees) on the...