Are Exporting Firms Really Poductive? Evidence from Ghana

This paper analyses the relationship between exporting and productivity amongst a sample of Ghanaian firms. Productivity measures, using total factor productivity estimates from a stochastic production frontier are estimated for the cross sectional sample. The productivity measures show that exporting firms are slightly more productive than non-exporters. This difference is however not statiscally significant. Estimates from export participation models do not show any statistically significant result to the effect that exporting firms are more productive compared to non-exporters. Again there is no significant relationship showing that productive firms are more likely to export. Results suggest that plicies must be tailored to increase productivity levels of firms and to encourage already productive firms to enter the export market.