Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing

This paper investigates the causal relationship between importing and firm productivity. Using a rich dataset from Ethiopian manufacturing over the period 1996–2011, I find that most firms rely on production inputs from the world market. These firms are better performing as shown by significant, eco...

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Main Author: Abreha, Kaleb Girma
Format: Journal Article
Published: Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35433
id okr-10986-35433
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-354332021-12-23T14:02:29Z Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing Abreha, Kaleb Girma IMPORTS IMPORTED INPUTS ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY LEARNING-BY-IMPORTING SELF-SELECTION FIRM PRODUCTIVITY MANUFACTURING This paper investigates the causal relationship between importing and firm productivity. Using a rich dataset from Ethiopian manufacturing over the period 1996–2011, I find that most firms rely on production inputs from the world market. These firms are better performing as shown by significant, economically large import premia. I also find strong evidence of self-selection of more productive firms into importing which is indicative of sizable import market entry costs. To examine the causal effect of importing on firm productivity, I use a model in which the static and dynamic effects of importing are separately estimated. The estimation results provide support to learning-by-importing. However, the productivity gains are small in size compared to similar findings in other studies. I provide some evidence in support of firms’ limited absorptive capacity in explaining the small productivity gains. 2021-04-13T15:53:04Z 2021-04-13T15:53:04Z 2019-10 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35433 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Ethiopia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
topic IMPORTS
IMPORTED INPUTS
ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY
LEARNING-BY-IMPORTING
SELF-SELECTION
FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
MANUFACTURING
spellingShingle IMPORTS
IMPORTED INPUTS
ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY
LEARNING-BY-IMPORTING
SELF-SELECTION
FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
MANUFACTURING
Abreha, Kaleb Girma
Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
geographic_facet Africa
Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE)
Ethiopia
description This paper investigates the causal relationship between importing and firm productivity. Using a rich dataset from Ethiopian manufacturing over the period 1996–2011, I find that most firms rely on production inputs from the world market. These firms are better performing as shown by significant, economically large import premia. I also find strong evidence of self-selection of more productive firms into importing which is indicative of sizable import market entry costs. To examine the causal effect of importing on firm productivity, I use a model in which the static and dynamic effects of importing are separately estimated. The estimation results provide support to learning-by-importing. However, the productivity gains are small in size compared to similar findings in other studies. I provide some evidence in support of firms’ limited absorptive capacity in explaining the small productivity gains.
format Journal Article
author Abreha, Kaleb Girma
author_facet Abreha, Kaleb Girma
author_sort Abreha, Kaleb Girma
title Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
title_short Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
title_full Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
title_fullStr Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
title_full_unstemmed Importing and Firm Productivity in Ethiopian Manufacturing
title_sort importing and firm productivity in ethiopian manufacturing
publisher Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate 2021
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35433
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