TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bernard,Andrew B.
AU  - Jensen,J. Bradford
TI  - Exceptional Exporter Performance: Cause, Effect, or Both?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6272
PY  - 1997
Y2  - November 1997
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6272
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6272.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Andrew B. Bernard
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
100 Tuck Hall
Hanover, NH  03755
Tel: 603/646-0302
Fax: 603/646-0995
E-Mail: Andrew.B.Bernard@dartmouth.edu

J. Bradford Jensen
McDonough School of Business
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057
Tel: 202/687-3767
E-Mail: jbj24@georgetown.edu
AB  - A growing body of empirical work has documented the superior performance characteristics" of exporting plants and firms relative to non-exporters.  Employment, shipments and capital intensity are all higher at exporters at any given moment.  This paper asks whether good" firms become exporters or whether exporting improves firm performance.  The evidence is quite" clear on one point: good firms become exporters, both growth rates and levels of success measures" are higher ex-ante for exporters.  The benefits of exporting for the firm are less clear.  Employment" growth and the probability of survival are both higher for exporters; however growth is not superior, particularly over longer horizons.
ER  -