Exports and Productivity Selection Effects for Dutch Firms

This study presents recently available data on the microstructure of Dutch exports and the relation between export participation and productivity at the firm and establishment-level. We test whether recent theories of international trade with heterogeneous firms can explain the patterns in the Dutch data. We find significant evidence that firms self-select into export participation, even after controlling for sector and firm-specific characteristics. In general, only the most productive Dutch firms participate in exports and foreign direct investment. In addition, we find evidence for the learning-by-exporting hypothesis once we control for the firm's distance to the international productivity frontier