European Regional Science Association
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European Regional Science Association
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The abstract for paper number 129:
José L. Calvo González, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain
The Export Activity of Spanish Manufacturing Firms: Does Innovation Matter?
The article analyses the export behaviour of a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms during the year 2000, estimating which factors affect that behaviour, and, above all, the influence of firm’s innovation activities. For doing that, I begin testing if its better to use a tobit specification for the model rather than, following Wakelin’s methodological approach, to estimate a probit model for the decision of participating or not in foreign markets and, afterwards, estimate a truncated model for the export propensity of firms. The results show that the variables that influence the decision of participate in foreign markets are different from those that affect export propensity, rejecting the tobit model, and show that size, age an innovation activity, among other factors, affect the export decision, but the propensity to export is independent of the size of the firm and its innovative attitude. At the same time, been participated by foreign capital positively influences both decisions.