Success and Failure of African Exporters
Using a novel dataset with transactions level exports data from four African countries (Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper uncovers evidence of a high degree of experimentation at the extensive margin associated with low survival rates...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20110511084559 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3419 |
| Summary: | Using a novel dataset with transactions
level exports data from four African countries (Malawi,
Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper uncovers evidence of
a high degree of experimentation at the extensive margin
associated with low survival rates, consistent with high and
middle income country evidence. Consequently, the authors
focus on the questions of what determines success and
survival beyond the first year and find that survival
probability rises with the number of firms exporting the
same product to the same destination from the same country,
pointing towards the existence of cross-firm synergies.
Accordingly the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis
that those synergies may be driven by information
spillovers. More intuitively and consistently with
multi-product firms models, the analysis also finds that
firms more diversified in terms of products, but even more
in terms of markets, are more likely to be successful and
survive beyond the first year. |
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