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Foreign ownership and the export and import propensities of developing-country firms

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  • Dominik Boddin
  • Horst Raff
  • Natalia Trofimenko

Abstract

This paper uses micro-data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys 2002-2006 to investigate how foreign ownership affects the likelihood of manufacturers in developing countries to export and/or import. Applying propensity score matching to control for differences across firms in terms of labor productivity and other characteristics, we find that foreign ownership is an economically important and statistically significant determinant of the likelihood that a firm will export and/or import. Foreign ownership raises the propensity to export by over 17 and the propensity to import by more than 13 percentage points. The effects are even bigger for the lowest-income countries.
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Suggested Citation

  • Dominik Boddin & Horst Raff & Natalia Trofimenko, 2017. "Foreign ownership and the export and import propensities of developing-country firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2543-2563, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:40:y:2017:i:12:p:2543-2563
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    2. NAULY Dahlia & HARIANTO & HARTOYO Sri & NOVIANTI Tanti, 2022. "Foreign Ownership And Productivity Of Food Industries In Indonesia," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(1), pages 130-144, April.
    3. Jacob A. Jordaan, 2023. "Firm‐level characteristics and the impact of COVID‐19: Examining the effects of foreign ownership and international trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1967-1998, July.
    4. Eppinger, Peter & Smolka, Marcel, 2015. "Firm Exports, Foreign Ownership, and the Global Financial Crisis," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113039, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations

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