Data for: Learning versus sunk costs explanations of export persistence

Abstract of associated article: This paper explores the role of sunk costs versus learning in explaining persistence in exporting. Multiple studies attributed such persistence to sunk market-entry costs. This paper shows that similar patterns of exporting are also consistent with a learning mechanism and finds a strong empirical support for such a mechanism in the context of Colombian plant-level data. Second, the paper empirically discriminates between the two competing theories, and finds that once learning is controlled for, the role of sunk costs in generating export persistence is at most forty percent of what is currently estimated in the literature. Finally, while in differentiated-products industries export persistence arises primarily due to learning, in the homogeneous-products industries such persistence arises primarily due to the sunk-cost mechanism.

相关论文摘要：本文探讨了沉没成本（sunk costs）与学习机制在解释出口持续性现象中的作用。既往多项研究将此类出口持续性归因于市场进入沉没成本。本文表明，类似的出口模式同样与学习机制相符，并基于哥伦比亚工厂层面的微观数据为该机制提供了强有力的实证支持。其次，本文对这两种竞争性理论开展实证甄别，结果发现：在控制学习机制的影响后，沉没成本对出口持续性的驱动作用至多仅为现有文献估算结果的40%。最后，研究表明：在差异化产品行业中，出口持续性主要源于学习机制；而在同质化产品行业中，此类出口持续性则主要由沉没成本机制驱动。