This paper investigates various aspects of the links between exporting and productivity for a large sample of firms in the United Kingdom. We find evidence to support the preposition that sunk costs are important. Self selection takes place, with larger and more productive firms entering export...

Exporting involves sunk costs, so some firms export whilst others do not. This proposition derives from a number of models of firm behavior and has been exposed to microeconometric analysis. Evidence from the latter suggests that exporting firms are generally more productive than nonexporters....

Exporting involves sunk costs, so some firms export while others do not. This proposition derives from a number of models of firm behaviour and has been exposed to microeconometric analysis. Evidence from the latter suggests that exporting firms are generally more productive than non-exporters;...

As a result of the rapid growth of microeconometric studies of exporting firms, we now know quite a lot about the performance dynamics of firms that enter export markets. We know much less about what happens to performance when firms exit. We apply a difference-in-differences methodology based...

Intervention to support export initiatives is commonplace in both industralized and developing countries. Such intervention is underpinned by the view that exporting is good for growth, typified by the success of the South East Asian tiger economies. Yet, while the evidence is largely...

This paper investigates the effects of international trade on firms' strategies for industry exit, either via closedown, switching industry or being acquired. We use a rich dataset of Swedish firms that extends over two decades to track firm choices between alternative strategies. We find that...