Does Exporting Raise Productivity? Evidence from Korean Microdata

Abstract

Does competition enhance productivity growth of a developing economy? Is global competition conducive to economic development? Especially, does competition with more advanced producers in the global market help productivity growth of domestic producers in a developing country? If the answer is a conditional yes, what makes global competition conducive to productivity growth and economic development? Many researchers have been working to find a better answer to these, perhaps quite controversial, questions.1 The aim of this paper is to review recent empirical findings related to these questions, which have strong policy implications and to offer some new evidence from Korean microdata.