Browsing by Author "Gauthier, B."

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    Do African manufacturing firms learn from exporting?
    (Journal of Development Studies, 2004-02) Bigsten, A.; Collier, P.; Dercon, S.; Fafchamps, M.; Gauthier, B.; Gunning, J.W.; Oduro, A.; Oostendorp, R.; Pattillo, C.; Söderbom, M.; Teal, F.; Zeufack, A.
    We use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to investigate whether exporting impacts on efficiency, and whether efficient firms self-select into the export market. Based on simultaneous estimation of a production function and an export regression, our preferred results indicate significant efficiency gains from exporting, which can be interpreted as learning by exporting. We show that modelling unobserved heterogeneity by a flexible approach is important for deriving this conclusion. A policy implication of our results is that Africa would gain from orientating its manufacturing sector towards exporting. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Ltd.