2008/04 | LEM Working Paper Series | |
Firms in International Trade: Importers and Exporters Heterogeneity in the Italian Manufacturing Industry |
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Davide Castellani, Francesco Serti, Chiara Tomasi |
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Keywords | ||
heterogeneous firms; exports; imports
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JEL Classifications | ||
F10, F16, J21
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Abstract | ||
This paper offers a portrait of Italian firms that trade
goods. Combining data on firms' structural characteristics and
economic performance with data on their exporting and importing
activity, we uncover evidence supporting recent theories on firm
heterogeneity and international trade, together with some new
facts. In particular, we find that importing can be as important as
exporting as a source of firm heterogeneity. First, we document that
trade is more concentrated than employment and sales, and we show that
import is even more concentrated than export both within sectors and
along the sector and country extensive margins. Second, while
supporting the fact that firms involved in both importing and
exporting (two-way traders) are the best performers, we also find that
firms involved only in importing activities perform better than those
involved only in exporting. We submit that this may have to do with
being mainly importers of high-tech capital goods. Third, the
performance premia of internationalized firms correlate relatively
more with the degree of geographical and sectoral diversification of
imports.
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