Cross-Border and Foreign-Affiliate Sales of Services: Evidence From German Micro-Data

• Abstract

  We merge German balance-of-payments and foreign-affiliate-trade statistics to obtain data about trade in commercial services at the firm level. We use these data to study export market participation and the choice of export mode: cross-border versus foreign affiliate sales. We find that for firms in our sample productivity is both a statistically significant and economically important determinant of the export participation and export mode choice. We also identify the role of industry- and country-specific determinants.

• Keywords

  international trade, trade in services, supply modes, commercial presence, foreign direct investment, multinational enterprises, firm heterogeneity

• JEL classification

  F12, F15, L13

• Download

  KWP_1771.pdf