Kanang Amos Akims a, Dianah Mukwate Ngui b
Author information
a CDepartment of Economics, University of Jos, Jos 930001, Nigeria
b School of Economics, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail: akimsk@unijos.edu.ng (Kanang Amos Akims)
This paper investigates how productivity influences firms’ exports. Various firm characteristics are employed to test the self-selection hypothesis alongside the effects of firms’ productivity on their share of exports in total sales. Using a pseudo-panel data set constructed from the firm-level data for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria, we find no evidence that higher productivity influences the decision on whether or not a firm would participate in exports. However, it is established that higher productivity increases the share of exports in total sales of firms that are already participating in foreign markets. A policy implication of our result is that Nigeria can realize a larger share of manufactured exports in total merchandise exports by directing efforts towards improving primarily the productivity of firms that are already involved in exports.
productivity, self-selection, export performance, manufacturing sector
Kanang Amos Akims, Dianah Mukwate Ngui. Productivity and Export Performance: Micro-Level Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria. Front. Econ. China, 2019, 14(3): 428‒460 https://doi.org/10.3868/s060-008-019-0019-0