March 1995 Exports respond unpredictably to a change in real exchange rates, suggests evidence from the 1980s. Recent theoretical work explains this as a consequence of the sunk costs associated with breaking into foreign markets. Sunk costs include the cost of packaging, upgrading product quality, establishing marketing channels, and accumulating information on demand sources. The authors use micro panel data to estimate a dynamic discrete-choice model of participation in export markets, a model derived from the Krugman-Baldwin sunk-cost hysteresis framework. Applying the model to data on manufacturing plants in Colombia (1981-89), they test for the presence of sunk entry costs and quantify the importance of those costs in explaining export patterns. The econometric results reject the hypothesis that sunk costs are zero. The results, which control for both observed and unobserved sources of plant heterogeneity, indicate that prior export market experience has a substantial effect on the probability of exporting, but its effect depreciates fairly quickly. The reentry costs of plants that have been out of the export market for a year are substantially lower than the costs of a first-time exporter. After a year out of the export market, however, the reentry costs are not significantly different from the entry costs. Plant characteristics are also associated with export behavior: large old plants owned by corporations are more likely to export than other plants. Variations in plant-level cost and demand conditions have much less effect on the profitability of exporting than variations in macroeconomic conditions and sunk costs do. It appears especially difficult to break into foreign markets during periods of world recession.

Exports respond unpredictably to a change in real exchange rates, suggests evidence from the 1980s.Recent theoretical work explains this as a consequence of the sunk costs associated with breaking into foreign markets. Sunk costs include the cost of packaging, upgrading product quality, establishing marketing channels, and accumulating information on demand sources. The authors use micro panel data to estimate a dynamic discrete - choice model of participation in export markets, a model derived from the Krugman-Baldwin sunk - cost hysteresis framework. Applying the model to data on manufacturing plants in Colombia (1981-89), they test for the presence of sunk entry costs and quantify the importance of those costs in explaining export patterns. The econometric results reject the hypothesis that sunk costs are zero. The results, which control for both observed and unobserved sources of plant heterogeneity, indicate that prior export market experience has a substantial effect on the probability of exporting, but its effect depreciates fairly quickly. The reentry costs of plants that have been out of the export market for a year are substantially lower than the costs of a first-time exporter. After a year out of the export market, however, the reentry costs are not significantly different from the entry costs. Plant characteristics are also associated with export behavior: large old plants owned by corporations are more likely to export than other plants. Variations in plant-level cost and demand conditions have much less effect on the profitability of exporting than variations in macroeconomic conditions and sunk costs do. It appears especially difficult to break into foreign markets during periods of world recession.

Economic growth is one of the most cost-effective ways of dealing with poverty in Africa. Growth lifts many people out of poverty and at the same time generates the government revenues necessary for investments within the social sector. Thus the design and implementation of business development policies remains a major challenge in most African countries. This entails supporting businesses to be integrated within the global economic structure without being easy victims of unscrupulous and opportunistic investors. During the past two decades successive Ghanaian governments have implemented private sector development policies aimed at stimulating growth through internationalisation of local enterprises and attracting foreign investors. Contributors to the volume provide an overview of the impact of these policies on the Ghanaian business environment and the strategic orientations of managers. They also offer an insight into the productivity and performance of exporting firms, the financial and knowledge acquisition strategies they adopt, their degree of market orientation and corporate social responsibility and the challenges faced by African policy makers and managers learning to operate within an increasingly turbulent global economy. The book situates the Ghanaian experience within the broader context of African economic growth and calls for African economic integration as a platform on which African firms can build their competitiveness and operate more effectively within the global economy.

This title was first published in 2000: This text aims to be essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the microeconomic foundations behind the Latin American export boom, the ways in which government policies affecting exports may retard or promote economic growth, and the future prospects of the proposed Free Trade Association of the Americas. The authors conduct an econometric analysis which uses measures of export diversification, structural change in exports, and exports similarity which provide a basis for region-wide comparisons. The cases of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela are analyzed in particular detail. Cross-country analysis focuses on the potential role of export diversification in promoting economic growth, in the context of other important determinants of growth.

Using India as a case study, this well-written, concise book covers everything one needs to know to understand how a country becomes internationally competitive. Showing that reforms that pertain to the real sector alone, such as industrial deregulation and trade reforms, are not enough to enhance a country's competitiveness, this book makes a compelling case for complimentary financial sector reforms. Of interest to academics studying international trade, industrial economics and development economics, this book is also guaranteed to be extremely useful for professional economists and those involved with policy making in developed and developing countries.

A great deal of public policy is harnessed to raising productivity growth. Although it is believed that the process is intimately linked to globalization, the precise links are less well known. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of links between international trade, foreign direct investment and productivity growth, providing a series of empirical analyses of these links.