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English

Heterogeneous firms or heterogeneous workers? Implications for the exporter premium and the impact of labor reallocation on productivity

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Forfattere:

Irarrazabal, Alfonso, Andreas Moxnes and Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe

År:

2009

Referanse:

Andre skrifter
CEPR Discussion paper series no 7577

Sammendrag (engelsk)

We expect trade liberalization to give rise to aggregate productivity gains, as the least efficient firms are forced out, and labor is reallocated towards the best performing firms. But the positive intra-industry reallocation effects rely on the stark assumption that exporters’ superior performance is due to intrinsic firm efficiency. We investigate the importance of intrinsic firm efficiency relative to input quality as sources of exporters’ productivity premium, employing a matched employer-employee data set for Norwegian manufacturing. Augmented measures of total factor productivity which take worker characteristics into account, indicate that up to 67 percent of the exporter premium reflects differences in workforce rather than true efficiency. Simulating the labor dynamics proceeding firm exits, we illustrate that the benign impact on aggregate productivity from firm exits may be reduced because of worker reallocation.

Nøkkelord:

exporters, firm heterogeneity, labor reallocation, productivity measurement and worker heterogeneity

JEL:

D24, F12, F14 and F16

Prosjekt info:

Oppdragsgiver: Norges forskningsråd
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 6512 - R&D, Industry Dynamics and Public Policy