|
| |
| Kris Iyer, Philip Andrew Stevens and Darran Austin |
| |
| ''Are Non-Exporters Locked out of Foreign Markets because of Low Productivity?: Evidence from New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry'' |
| ( 2010, Vol. 30 No.2 ) |
| |
| |
| Self-selection of productive firms to exporting suggests that non-exporters are less productive and locked out of international markets due to low productivity. Using a panel dataset of 88,752 New Zealand agriculture and forestry sector firms over the period 2000-07, this paper measures the productivity of exporters and non-exporters separately. The paper finds that exporters are, on average, twice as productive as non-exporters. Across both exporters and non-exporters, we report a mixed rate of productivity growth: negative until the median and positive beyond. Exporters record a higher negative growth rate relative to non-exporters (below the median) and also a higher positive growth rate (beyond the median). Analysis of the productivity distribution in quantiles suggests that the sub-set of non-exporters who have productivity levels similar to that of exporters is large. For this sub-set of firms, it would be erroneous to conclude that the export propensity decision is determined by low productivity. |
| |
| |
| Keywords: agriculture, forestry, productivity, New Zealand |
JEL: O5 - Economywide Country Studies: General
O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General |
| |
| Manuscript Received : Mar 11 2010 | | Manuscript Accepted : Jun 30 2010 |
|
