Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9016
Authors: Markus Kelle; Jörn Kleinert; Horst Raff; Farid Toubal
Abstract: We merge German balance-of-payments and foreign-affiliate-trade statistics to obtain data about trade in commercial services at the firm level. We use these data to study export market participation and the choice of export mode: cross-border versus foreign-affiliate sales. We find that for firms in our sample productivity is both a statistically significant and economically important determinant of the export participation and export mode choice. We also identify the role of industry- and country-specific determinants.
Keywords: commercial presence; firm heterogeneity; foreign direct investment; international trade; multinational enterprises; supply modes; trade in services
JEL Codes: F12; F15; L13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher productivity (O49) | Likelihood of exporting (F10) |
| Higher productivity (O49) | Choice of export mode (F10) |
| Higher productivity (O49) | Foreign affiliate sales (F23) |
| Distance to foreign markets (F10) | Overall export likelihood (F10) |
| Distance to foreign markets (F10) | Choice of foreign affiliate sales (F23) |
| Market size (L25) | Probability of exporting (F10) |
| High wages in importing country (F16) | Favor cross-border sales (F10) |
| Organizational costs (D23) | Probability of foreign affiliate sales (F23) |