TY - JOUR
T1 - International productivity gaps and the export status of firms
T2 - Evidence from France and Japan
AU - Bellone, Flora
AU - Kiyota, Kozo
AU - Matsuura, Toshiyuki
AU - Musso, Patrick
AU - Nesta, Lionel
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was conducted as a part of the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) research project, “ Determinants of the Productivity Gap among Firms in Japan .” The authors acknowledge the helpful comments on an earlier draft from Luis Castro, Naoto Jinji, Dae-Wook Kim, Eiichi Tomiura, Eric Ramstetter, two anonymous referees, the participants at the ETSG 2011 Conference in Copenhagen, the EITI 2012 Conference in Tokyo, the CAED-COST 2012 Conference in Nuremberg, the Japanese Economic Association 2012 Fall Meeting, the Korea International Economic Association 2012 Meeting, the WEAI Pacific Rim Conference in Tokyo, and the seminar participants at GRIPS, Kobe University, Okinawa University, Otaru University of Commerce, the Research Institute of Capital Formation, RIETI, and University of California Santa Cruz. Financial support received from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid B-2233080 ) is also gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to Takanobu Nakajima for his guidance throughout this research and to Kiyohiko G. Nishimura for having initiated the French–Japanese scientific co-operation under which this research has been completed. The usual disclaimers apply.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - This paper provides new evidence on international productivity gaps; this evidence is obtained from large-scale firm-level data from the French and Japanese manufacturing industries using non-parametric methodologies designed to overcome confidentiality restrictions. Our primary finding is that international productivity gaps are sensitive to the export status of firms. We also show that productivity differences between French and Japanese exporters vary across export destinations. We propose a simple analytical framework to relate those basic findings to the new models of international trade with heterogeneous firms. Under this framework, international firm-level productivity comparisons provide new insights into the importance of trade-related institutional and policy differences across countries.
AB - This paper provides new evidence on international productivity gaps; this evidence is obtained from large-scale firm-level data from the French and Japanese manufacturing industries using non-parametric methodologies designed to overcome confidentiality restrictions. Our primary finding is that international productivity gaps are sensitive to the export status of firms. We also show that productivity differences between French and Japanese exporters vary across export destinations. We propose a simple analytical framework to relate those basic findings to the new models of international trade with heterogeneous firms. Under this framework, international firm-level productivity comparisons provide new insights into the importance of trade-related institutional and policy differences across countries.
KW - Exports
KW - Firm heterogeneity
KW - International productivity gap
KW - Productivity distribution
KW - Trade costs
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U2 - 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.01.017
DO - 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.01.017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899990087
SN - 0014-2921
VL - 70
SP - 56
EP - 74
JO - European Economic Review
JF - European Economic Review
ER -