Distribution of export size, Pareto exponent and financial crisis

This paper studies the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the distribution of firms’ export sizes. Using Chinese customs data from 2003 to 2013, we first show that firms’ export sizes follow a Pareto distribution. By applying a difference-in-differences method, we find that the 2008 financial crisis induced significant changes in the values of the Pareto exponents. We argue that variations in the distribution of export size signal resource reallocations in the export sector at the macro level and are associated with exporters’ adjustments to their exporting behavior at the micro level. The findings suggest that the Pareto exponent is an informative indicator and offers policymakers a better understanding of firm-level adjustments to exporting behavior in the presence of external negative shocks.