Isgut, Alberto E.Fernandes, Ana M.2012-06-252012-06-252005-03https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8975The empirical evidence on whether participation in export markets increases plant-level productivity has been inconclusive so far. The authors explain this inconclusiveness by drawing on Arrow's (1962) characterization of learning-by-doing, which suggests focusing on young plants and using measures of export experience rather than export participation. They find strong evidence of learning-by-exporting for young Colombian manufacturing plants between 1981 and 1991: total factor productivity increases 4-5 percent for each additional year a plant has exported, after controlling for the effect of current exports on total factor productivity. Learning-by-exporting is more important for young than for old plants and in industries that deliver a larger percentage of their exports to high-income countries.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGANNUAL OBSERVATIONSAVERAGE VARIABLE COSTSCAPITAL GOODSCONSUMERSDEVELOPMENT POLICIESDIMINISHING RETURNSEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL STUDIESEMPLOYMENTENERGY CONSUMPTIONEXCHANGE RATEEXPENDITURESEXPORTEXPORTSFIXED INPUTSFUELSINCOMEINFANT INDUSTRY ARGUMENTINNOVATIONINTERMEDIATE INPUTSINVENTORYLABOR MARKETSLABOR PRODUCTIVITYMETROPOLITAN AREASNEW ENTRANTSPRICE INDEXESPRODUCER PRICE INDEXESPRODUCTION COSTSPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPRODUCTIVITY INCREASESQUALITY STANDARDSRANDOM WALKSUNK COSTSTECHNOLOGICAL CHANGETIME SERIESTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYVARIABLE INPUTSWAGESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3544