GEP Research Paper 99/12

Sectoral and Firm-Specific Determinants of Export Performance: Evidence from the United Kingdom

Mike Bleaney and Katharine Wakelin

This paper was subsequently published in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics , Vol. 64, pp.3-15.

Abstract

Trade-theoretic and firm-specific determinants of the share of output exported are investigated for a sample of British manufacturing firms. Export shares are higher in sectors with higher R&D expenditures as a proportion of output. We find that R&D expenditures allocated by first application of the innovation (e.g. through purchases of new capital goods produced in another sector) perform better than the standard measure. There is only weak evidence in support of factor endowment theories of trade. The firm-specific influences emerge as important and are consistent with previous research that finds better-performing firms to be more likely to export.

Issued in October 1999.

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