Determinants of Export Growth at the Extensive and Intensive Margins : Evidence from Product and Firm-level Data for Pakistan
As globalization progresses and investment is mobile, it is ever more important for policy makers to understand drivers of growth and exports at the micro-level: Which products are being produced and exported? Which firms populate the domestic econ...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17205299/determinants-export-growth-extensive-intensive-margins-evidence-product-firm-level-data-pakistan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13128 |
| Summary: | As globalization progresses and
investment is mobile, it is ever more important for policy
makers to understand drivers of growth and exports at the
micro-level: Which products are being produced and exported?
Which firms populate the domestic economy? Are they
successful in exporting? How are firms affected by exogenous
shocks and policy intervention? Through the use of
descriptive statistics and econometric analysis, this paper
assesses the trade competitiveness of Pakistan using
micro-data. The case of Pakistan is interesting since the
country's recent trade policy has reverted to a
protectionist path since the mid-2000s and trade performance
is stagnating, as indicated by a decrease in its
trade-to-gross domestic product ratio over the past decade
and low levels of sophistication of exports. The main
findings of the paper are the following. Like many other
countries, Pakistan posts a high concentration of exports in
the hands of a limited number of large exporters. The
dominance of few exporters has increased over time and it
seems associated with the changes in trade policy. Low rates
of product innovation and experimentation and a low ability
of the Pakistani export sector to enter into new higher
growth sectors are other features emerging from the data.
All in all, the mediocre performance seems to be associated
with internal problems with trade-related incentives,
business environment, and governance, in addition to the
well-known external constraints. |
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