Recent models of international trade show that trade costs are important determinants of exporting decisions and productivity dynamics. By assuming that these costs are exogenous and constant across firms, these theories do not take into account that experienced firms may have lower trading...

This paper examines the effect of changes in the real exchange rate on skill upgrading in the case of Chile. Using plant-level data from the manufacturing sector we find that a real depreciation increases the share of skilled workers in the total wage bill in exporters but not in non-exporters....

This paper examines the effect of changes in the real exchange rate on skill upgrading in the case of Chile. Using plant-level data from the manufacturing sector, we find that a real depreciation increases the share of skilled workers in the total wage bill in exporters but not in non-exporters....

We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more...

This paper examines the effect of real exchange rate volatility on the intensive margin and the extensive margin of exports. Using highly disaggregated U.S. import data by product and country of origin, and a methodology that takes into account the possible endogeneity of volatility to trade,...

Recent models of trade with firm heterogeneity predict that opening to trade reduces the number of firms, increases the average size of firms, and decreases firms’ markups. This paper uses a large dataset for 28 manufacturing industries and 46 countries to test these predictions. The...

This paper examines why different countries export different qualities of products.Previous studies have attributed quality dispersion to differences in factor endowments while no empirical work has been done examining the effect of technology on quality. Using panel data on U.S. imports from 58...

This article examines whether the presence of multinationals affects the export participation of local firms in the same industry using data on manufacturing firms in Ghana. We find robust evidence consistent with the idea of spillovers from multinationals to Ghanaian exporters. We also observe...