This paper analyses the relationship between firm productivity and export behavior in German manufacturing firms. We examine whether productivity increases the probability of exporting, and assert that there is a causal relationship from high productivity to entering foreign markets, as...

Distance effects in empirical gravity equations appear to be too high to be explained by transport costs alone. Moreover, despite the strong and ongoing reduction of transport costs, the estimated coefficients are rather increasing than decreasing over the last six decades. To address the two...

Fixed entry costs play an important role to explain the heterogeneity among exporters in terms of the geographical scope of their export activities. Yet, the existing literature has paid little attention to the nature and variation of such costs across different markets. This paper proposes a...

This paper examines the relationship between the credit constraints faced by a firm and the unit value prices of its exports. The paper modifies Arkolakis’s (2010) model of trade with heterogeneous firms by introducing endogenous quality and credit constraints. The model predicts that tighter...

Using confidential microdata from the US Census, we find that the fraction of manufacturing plants that export rose from 21% in 1987 to 39% in 2006. It has been suggested that similar trends in other countries may have been caused by declining costs of entering foreign markets. Our study tests...

This article reviews the empirical evidence on firm heterogeneity in international trade. A first wave of empirical findings from microdata on plants and firms proposed challenges for existing models of international trade and inspired the development of new theories emphasizing firm...

This paper studies how cross-country differences in labor market institutions shape the pattern of international trade, focusing on workers' skill acquisition. I develop a model in which workers undertake non-contractible activities to acquire firm-specific skills on the job. In the model,...

Are the costs of exporting to a market reduced if a firm has experience of exporting to a neighbouring market? If so, does this effect operate through reducing en- try barriers or by increasing sales once the firm is operating in the market? This paper examines linkages between current export...