GEP Research Paper 00/06
Learning by Exporting: Evidence from Three Transition Economies
Michael Bleaney, Igor Filatotchev and Katharine Wakelin
Abstract
Several recent studies have tested whether firms learn by exporting, in the sense that a history of exporting improves measures of firm performance ceteris paribus. These studies have found little or no evidence of learning by exporting in either developed countries (Germany, U.S.) or developing countries (Colombia, Morocco). We test the learning-by-exporting hypothesis for three transition economies (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine). The results indicate that, for the firms in our survey, current employment is significantly positively related to the export share of output in the previous period. These findings are consistent with the idea that exporting accelerates the process of learning by firms in transition economies.
Issued in March 2000.
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