Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/203970 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
wiiw Working Paper No. 105
Publisher: 
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Vienna
Abstract: 
Our study extends the recent literature on the importer-productivity relationship to a firm-level dataset for sub-Saharan Africa. Using a cross-section sample of 3090 firms in 19 countries, we find that importers are more productive than non-importers. The observed importer premium is found to be robust to firm-specific characteristics and to a number of alternative estimation methods. Furthermore, we examine the importance of absorptive capacity in enhancing the benefits from importing. Using recently developed quantile threshold regression methods, we find that higher levels of absorptive capacity, as measured by human capital, are associated with a stronger relationship between importing and productivity.
Subjects: 
importing
productivity
sub-Saharan Africa
absorptive capacity
human capital
JEL: 
D24
F10
M20
L10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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