International Economics Commons^™

The paper tests the role of agglomeration effects on the export decision of services firms. Recent theories on trade with heterogeneous firms predict that export participation goes along with sunk market-entry costs. Only the more productive firms will be able to overcome these sunk costs. This leads to a process of - ex ante - self selection. These predictions are tested for the services industry, with due account for the possible role of agglomeration effects in large-city areas. Standard empirical tests of the new trade models consistently find productivity-based ex ante self selection by exporters, and this effect is mostly …

The paper tests whether recent theories of international trade with heterogeneous firms can explain the export patterns in Dutch firm- and plant- level data in manufacturing and services. Recent trade models with heterogeneous firms predict that the export decision of firms is affected by sunk entry costs in foreign markets, with only the most productive firms self-selecting into exports. We test a latent variable model of the export decision by probit regressions and standard OLS panel regressions. Our results support the self-selection prediction. The process further appears to be conditioned by scale effects, market structure and multinational affiliation. Regarding alternative …