Agglomeration and the Export Decision of French Firms

Pamina Koenig (1, 2, 3)

1 PJSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques
2 PSE - Paris School of Economics
3 UPN - Université Paris Nanterre

This paper asks whether export spillovers influence the export behavior of French manufacturers. I use a database containing export flows by firm and importing country between 1986 and 1992. The decision to start exporting to a particular country is estimated using a logit model, controlling for the specific characteristics of firms, locations, countries and years. The export spillovers identified are industry- and/or destination-specific, and are computed at a very disaggregated geographical level. The results indicate that the pool of local exporters positively affects the decision to start exporting to a country. These effects are clearly destination-specific, and are larger for firms that export to remote markets.

Mots clés: Export decision; Export market; Destination-specific spillovers

Domaines: Economies et finances

Pamina Koenig. Agglomeration and the Export Decision of French Firms. Journal of Urban Economics, 2009, 66 (3), pp.186-195. ⟨10.1016/j.jue.2009.07.002⟩. ⟨halshs-00754328⟩