Export, Productivity Pattern, and Firm Size Distribution

Abstract

We show in the Chinese Annual Survey of Industrial Firms that size distributions of non-exporters and exporters have different shapes, which can only be explained by assuming that their productivity distributions have different shapes. Empirical estimations verify this assumption. This paper also analyzes the relationship between firms' size and productivity distributions and shows that: 1) productivity and size distributions change accordingly, and 2) productivity is deterministic for size distribution