Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence

We show using detailed firm-level Chinese data that, among small exporters, firms selling to a more diversified set of countries have more volatile exports, while the opposite holds among large exporters. This apriori surprising result for small firms is robust to a wide array of specifications and...

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Main Authors: Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague, Zheng, Wang, Yu, Zhihong
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35456/
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author Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague
Zheng, Wang
Yu, Zhihong
author_facet Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague
Zheng, Wang
Yu, Zhihong
author_sort Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We show using detailed firm-level Chinese data that, among small exporters, firms selling to a more diversified set of countries have more volatile exports, while the opposite holds among large exporters. This apriori surprising result for small firms is robust to a wide array of specifications and controls. Our theoretical explanation for these observations rests on the presence of fixed costs of exports per destination and short run demand shocks. In this setup , the volatility of a firm's exports depends not only on the diversification of its destination portfolio but also on whether it exports permanently to all markets. Among all exporters, a more diversified pool of destinations makes the firm more likely to export occasionally to some markets, thereby raising export volatility.
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spelling nottingham-354562020-05-04T17:59:53Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35456/ Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague Zheng, Wang Yu, Zhihong We show using detailed firm-level Chinese data that, among small exporters, firms selling to a more diversified set of countries have more volatile exports, while the opposite holds among large exporters. This apriori surprising result for small firms is robust to a wide array of specifications and controls. Our theoretical explanation for these observations rests on the presence of fixed costs of exports per destination and short run demand shocks. In this setup , the volatility of a firm's exports depends not only on the diversification of its destination portfolio but also on whether it exports permanently to all markets. Among all exporters, a more diversified pool of destinations makes the firm more likely to export occasionally to some markets, thereby raising export volatility. Elsevier 2016-07-25 Article PeerReviewed Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague, Zheng, Wang and Yu, Zhihong (2016) Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence. European Economic Review . ISSN 0014-2921 (In Press) Volatility; Diversification; Exports http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292116301210 doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.07.002 doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.07.002
spellingShingle Volatility; Diversification; Exports
Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague
Zheng, Wang
Yu, Zhihong
Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title_full Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title_fullStr Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title_full_unstemmed Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title_short Volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
title_sort volatility and diversification of exports: firm level theory and evidence
topic Volatility; Diversification; Exports
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35456/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35456/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35456/