Productivity and Export Performance: Micro-Level Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria

This paper investigates how productivity influences firms’ exports. Various firm characteristics are employed to test the self-selection hypothesis alongside the effects of firms’ productivity on their share of exports in total sales. Using a pseudo-panel data set constructed from the firm-level dat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers of economics in China 2019-09, Vol.14 (3), p.428-460
Main Authors: Akims, Kanang Amos, Ngui, Dianah Mukwate
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Companies
Directing
export performance
Exports
Manufacturing
Manufacturing industries
manufacturing sector
Markets
Panel data
Production management
Productivity
Sales
self-selection
Selfselection
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Summary:This paper investigates how productivity influences firms’ exports. Various firm characteristics are employed to test the self-selection hypothesis alongside the effects of firms’ productivity on their share of exports in total sales. Using a pseudo-panel data set constructed from the firm-level data for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria, we find no evidence that higher productivity influences the decision on whether or not a firm would participate in exports. However, it is established that higher productivity increases the share of exports in total sales of firms that are already participating in foreign markets. A policy implication of our result is that Nigeria can realize a larger share of manufactured exports in total merchandise exports by directing efforts towards improving primarily the productivity of firms that are already involved in exports.
ISSN:1673-3444
1673-3568
DOI:10.3868/s060-008-019-0019-0