Production Efficiency and the Extensive Margins of U.S. Exporters: An Industry-level Analysis.

Using data from 85 NAICS 4 digit-level industry classifications that span the years 2004-2008, we evaluate whether productivity differentials, which have been shown to determine the decision of firms to export, affect the extensive margins of trade at the industry-level (i.e., the number of firms within an industry that engage in exporting). We use a stochastic frontier production function to derive a time-varying, industry-specific measure of technical efficiency. Employing a multi-level mixed effects model and accounting for the variance structure of the data (i.e., destination markets, industries, and time), we examine the average effect of an increase in industry-specific technical efficiency on the number of firms involved in exporting and the corresponding industry-specific deviations. Our results show that higher levels of industry-specific technical efficiency correspond with larger numbers of firms involved in exporting implying the importance of giving due consideration to approaches that focus on improving technical efficiency. Additionally, a much larger increase is observed among small-sized firms than for medium- or large-sized firms. We discuss the implications of the observed deviations, particularly for policy makers interested in increasing the extensive margins of their nations' trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]