The Export-Growth Relationship: Estimating a Dose-Response Function

21 Pages Posted: 12 May 2006 Last revised: 26 Aug 2008

See all articles by Helmut Fryges

Helmut Fryges

Technopolis Group; University of Tasmania - Australian Innovation Research Centre; Center for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Date Written: May 2006

Abstract

The relationship between individual firms' export behaviour and firm performance has been studied extensively in the economic literature. However, most studies from the field of economics only distinguish between exporting and non-exporting companies, using the firms' export status as a binary treatment variable and comparing the performance of exporting and non-exporting firms. This paper introduces the newly developed generalised propensity score (GPS) methodology to the literature of individual firms' export behaviour. Instead of a binary treatment variable, the GPS method allows for continuous treatment, that is, different levels of the firms' export activities. Based on the GPS methodology, a dose-response function is estimated, depicting the relationship between the firms' pre-treatment export-sales ratio and their subsequent sales growth rate as a measure of firm performance.

Keywords: Degree of internationalisation, continuous treatment, generalised propenpropensity score, dose-response function, high-technology industries.

JEL Classification: F23, L60, L86

Suggested Citation

Fryges, Helmut, The Export-Growth Relationship: Estimating a Dose-Response Function (May 2006). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 06-028, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=900545 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.900545

Helmut Fryges (Contact Author)

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