Trade and Technology: New Evidence on the Productivity Sorting of Firms

30 Pages Posted: 18 Jul 2013

See all articles by Irene Bertschek

Irene Bertschek

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Jan Hogrefe

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Fabienne Rasel

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Information and Communication Technologies Research Group

Date Written: July 1, 2013

Abstract

Using a unique German firm-level data set, we provide empirical evidence for a productivity sorting along two dimensions: international activity and technology choice. We consider domestic and exporting firms and measure technology choice by firms’ actual use of advanced information technology (IT). For manufacturing firms, the observed sorting pattern is consistent with recent theories of heterogeneous firms and technology choice: Only the relatively more productive ones among internationally active firms are also highly technology intensive. For service sector firms we find similar evidence, yet the results seem to depend on the trade cost of certain services. In general, recent theoretical advances regarding trade and technology adoption thus seem to better fit the manufacturing sector.

Keywords: exports, productivity, sorting, information technology, firm-level data

JEL Classification: F14, F23, L23

Suggested Citation

Bertschek, Irene and Hogrefe, Jan and Rasel, Fabienne, Trade and Technology: New Evidence on the Productivity Sorting of Firms (July 1, 2013). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 13-042, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2294435 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2294435

Irene Bertschek (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Jan Hogrefe

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Fabienne Rasel

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research - Information and Communication Technologies Research Group ( email )

D-68034 Mannheim
Germany

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