Use of Imported Inputs and the Cost of Importing : Evidence from Developing Countries

Use of Imported Inputs and the Cost of Importing : Evidence from Developing Countries

For a representative sample of manufacturing firms in 26 countries, this paper shows that changes in the cost of importing over time are significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the percentage of firms' material inputs that are...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Amin, Mohammad, Islam, Asif
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE TERMS ACCOUNTING AVERAGE LEVEL BROKER COUNTRY LEVEL COUNTRY REGRESSIONS COUNTRY SIZE COUNTRY SPECIFIC CUSTOMS CUSTOMS CLEARANCE DATA AVAILABILITY DATA SETS DEPENDENT VARIABLE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DOMESTIC INPUTS DUMMY VARIABLE EMPIRICAL STUDIES ESTIMATED COEFFICIENT ESTIMATION METHOD FIRM PERFORMANCE FIXED COSTS FIXED EFFECTS GDP GDP PER CAPITA GLOBAL ECONOMY GLOBAL FACTORS IMPERFECT SUBSTITUTES IMPORT COST IMPORT COSTS IMPORTS INTERMEDIATE INPUTS INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL TRADE MEAN VALUE MEASURE OF TRADE NEGATIVE EFFECT POLICY MAKERS POLICY MEASURES POLICY RESEARCH STANDARD DEVIATION TARIFF RATE TARIFF RATES TAX TAX RATES TRADE BARRIERS TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRADE OPENNESS TRADE POLICY VALUE OF IMPORTS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/08/20122041/use-imported-inputs-cost-importing-evidence-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20361

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Summary:	For a representative sample of manufacturing firms in 26 countries, this paper shows that changes in the cost of importing over time are significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the percentage of firms' material inputs that are of foreign origin. Furthermore, the paper shows that there may be a nonlinear relationship between import costs and imports. These findings are important, as recent studies point toward a significant positive effect of imported inputs on productivity and growth. It is hoped that the present paper inspires more work on the determinants of the use of imported inputs, especially in developing countries.