Are financial constraints preventing firms from importing capital goods? Sourcing capital goods from foreign countries is costly and requires internal or external financial resources. A simple model of foreign technology adoption shows that credit constraints act as a barrier to importing...

Why would an increase in imported inputs rise exports? We argue that importing more varieties of intermediate inputs increases firm’s productivity and thereby makes the firm able to overcome the export fixed costs. Whereas the literature evidences the positive effect of an increase in imported...

Recent findings in international trade using detailed firm level surveys emphasize the microeconomic effects of trade liberalization episodes. A unilateral trade reform has two opposite effects on firms’ export patterns: (i) expansion of export opportunities for foreign firms exporting to that...

Foreign technology transfers play a key role in economic growth. This paper investigates the effects of input-trade liberalization on firms’ decision to upgrade foreign technology embodied in imported capital goods. We develop a theoretical model of endogenous technology adoption,...

Microeconometric studies have shown that foreign-owned firms pay a wage premium in developing countries. This paper investigates one of the possible channels that explain why foreign firms pay higher wages than their domestic counterparts in developing economies. Under imperfect financial...

This paper investigates the microeconomic effects of financial development on economic growth. The increased availability of credit is usually expected to improve firms’ growth due to the elimination of credit constraints. We investigate this question using a survey of Indian firms in the...

This paper investigates the relationship between the reform of energy, telecommunications and transport services in India in the mid-1990s and manufacturing firms’ export performance. The empirical analysis relies on exogenous indicators of regulation of Indian services sectors and detailed...

Do variations in labor market institutions across countries affect the cross-border organization of the firm? Using firm-level data on multinationals located in France, we show that multinational firms are more likely to import intermediate inputs from external independent suppliers instead of...

A unilateral trade reform generates two opposite effects: market access expansion and strengthening of competitive pressures in the liberalized market. Using detailed trade and firm-level data from France, the authors investigate how French firms' product scope and export sales changed after...

This paper studies the impact of input-trade liberalization on firms' decision to upgrade foreign technology embodied in imported capital goods. The empirical analysis is motivated by a simple theoretical framework of endogenous technology adoption, heterogeneous firms and imported inputs. The...