A recent survey of 54 micro-econometric studies reveals that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. On the other hand, previous empirical studies show that exporting does not necessarily improve productivity. One possible reason for this result is that most previous studies are restricted to analysing the relationship between a firm’s export status and the growth of its labour ...

This paper examines the relationship between foreign ownership and productivity, paying particular attention to two issues neglected in the existing literature – the role of multinationals in service sectors and the importance of R&D activity conducted by foreign multinationals. We review existing theoretical and empirical work, which largely focuses on manufacturing, before presenting new evid...

We present the latest results in our efforts to produce a complete, large sample of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs, L60 > 10 11.4L⊙ for H0=100kms Mpc, q0=0.5) for use in the study of these objects and their evolution. We have been using an optical/IR colour technique to select those objects most likely to be ULIRGs. 65 of the 198 candidate ULIRGs that do not yet have redshifts were obs...

In this paper I develop an empirical framework to estimate the role of agglomeration externalities, especially those stemming from input-output linkages, in the location process of US manufacturing plants. Furthermore, drawing on the model of Holmes and Stevens (2004b), I propose a way to reconciliate some previous puzzling results about proximity to consumers’ demand and the scope of agglomera...

This paper describes the industrial development of Europe to 1600. The conventional history of industrial development sees technological progress as its primary cause. However, this paper argues that the source of rising productivity was not new technology but the reorganization of production in response to falling trading costs and the expansion of trade. The expansion of trade changed which g...

Research in international trade has changed dramatically over the last twenty years, as attention has shifted from countries and industries towards the firms actually engaged in international trade. The now-standard heterogeneous firm model posits a continuum of firms that compete under monopolistic competition (and hence are measure zero) and decide whether to export to foreign markets. Howeve...

This article examines the involvement pattern in global value chains (GVCs) with its policy implication in Vietnam, in comparison with those of the other Asian countries, by using the OECD value-added-trade data. The study first identified the “smile curve” as the average pattern of the Asian GVCs development paths in total manufactures, in which the domestic value share to exports declines at ...

The labour productivity impact of innovation of manufacturing firms in Bangladesh and Pakistan, a highly neglected region for such studies compared with the developed world, is studied in this paper by using World Bank Enterprise Survey data conducted in 2006. To achieve this end, we apply the Cobb-Douglas production function, augmented with innovation-related (and other expected sources of pro...