Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/68047 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
ESRI Working Paper No. 196
Publisher: 
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Dublin
Abstract: 
Recent economic literature suggests the importance of sunk costs and hysteresis in explaining export patterns in international trade. To explore their empirical importance, we present a new conceptual framework that distinguishes six different types of exporter behaviour, and apply this framework to a unique longitudinal data set on Irish manufacturing. Our analysis allows us to identify significant numbers of manufacturers who engage in 'exporter re-switching behaviour'. The magnitude of these numbers leads us to question the widespread importance of sunk costs. In response to export-market shocks, we find strong evidence of both heterogeneous exporter responses and hysteresis.
Subjects: 
heterogeneous exporters
sunk costs
re-switching behaviour
JEL: 
E32
F14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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