Access to Services and Export Performance: Evidence from China

Abstract

Although at the country and industry level there is much evidence on the importance of access to services for exports and participation in global value chains, such evidence is largely absent at the firm level. In this paper we use a newly constructed dataset that connects city-level access to producer services for 230 cities in China to firm-level export performance. The analysis shows that access to local producer services substantially improves firm export performance, especially for relatively small firms and for initial steps in exporting. In addition, we find little evidence that firm age plays a substantial role in explaining the importance of access to services for export performance.

Keywords: Access to services, Export performance, China