Imports Complementarities in European Manufacturing

Resumen

¿Aumenta la productividad doméstica gracias a la tecnología incorporada en las importaciones? Este artículo investiga empíricamente el papel de las complementariedades entre la capacidad de absorción y las importaciones. Se combinan diferentes categorías de importaciones con distintos indicadores de capacidad de absorción. La base de datos abarca 18 industrias manufactureras en 16 países europeos en el periodo 2008-2014. Los resultados son robustos ante cambios de especificación o al controlar la endogeneidad. Sugieren que existen complementariedades, pero que se limitan a ciertos tipos de importaciones (bienes de capital) y ciertos indicadores de capacidad de absorción (nivel educativo). Además, se observa que las importaciones de bienes de capital impulsan la productividad laboral solamente si la proporción de personas con educación terciaria empleadas en la industria manufacturera supera el umbral del 12,5 %.

Palabras clave:

importaciones de bienes de capital, capacidad de absorción, productividad laboral, efecto de umbral

Citas

Abreha, K. G. (2019). Importing and firm productivity in Ethiopian manufacturing. The World Bank Economic Review, 33(3), 772-792. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhx009

Augier, P., Cadot, O., & Dovis, M. (2013). Imports and TFP at the firm level: The role of absorptive capacity. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d’économique, 46(3), 956-981. https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12034

Autor, D. H., Dorn, D., & Hanson, G. H. (2013). The China syndrome: Local labour market effects of import competition in the United States. American Economic Review, 103(6), 2121-2168. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.6.2121

Berthou, A., Chung, J. J.-H., Manova, K., & Sandoz Dit Bragard, C. (2019). Trade, productivity and (mis) allocation. Available at SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3502471

Bouattour, A., Kalai, M., & Helali, K. (2024). Threshold effects of technology import on industrial employment: A panel smooth transition regression approach. Journal of Economic Structures, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-023-00322-x

Bournakis, I., Christopoulos, D., & Mallick, S. (2018). Knowledge spillovers and output per worker: An industry-level analysis for OECD countries. Economic Inquiry, 56(2), 1028- 1046. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12458

Broda, C., & Weinstein, D. E. (2006). Globalization and the gains from variety. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 541-585. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.541

Caselli, F., & Wilson, D. J. (2004). Importing technology. Journal of Monetary Economics,51(1), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2003.07.004

Caselli, M. (2018). Do all imports matter for productivity? Intermediate inputs vs capital goods. Economia Politica, 35(2), 285-311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-017-0071-5

Chen, C., & Steinwender, C. (2021). Import competition, heterogeneous preferences of managers, and productivity. Journal of International Economics, 133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2021.103533

Coe, D. T., & Helpman, E. (1995). International R&D spillovers. European Economic Review, 39(5), 859-887. https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-2921(94)00100-E

CompNet. (2021). User Guide for the 8th Vintage of the CompNet Dataset. https://www.comp-net.org/fileadmin/_compnet/user_upload/2021-11-04%208th%20Vintage%20User%20Guide%20Final.pdf

Conti, G., Lo Turco, A., & Maggioni, D. (2014). Rethinking the import-productivity nexus for Italian manufacturing. Empirica, 41, 589-617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-013-9215-1

Dietzenbacher, E., Los, B., Stehrer, R., Timmer, M., & De Vries, G. (2013). The construction of world input–output tables in the WIOD project. Economic Systems Research, 25(1), 71-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/09535314.2012.761180

Dollar, D. (1992). Outward-oriented developing economies really do grow more rapidly: Evidence from 95 LDCs, 1976-1985. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 40(3), 523-544. https://doi.org/10.1086/451959

Edwards, S. (1998). Openness, productivity and growth: What do we really know? The Economic Journal, 108(447), 383-398. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00293

Gong, W., & Seo, M. H. (2024). Bootstraps for dynamic panel threshold models (arXiv:2211.04027v3). arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.04027

Halpern, L., Koren, M., & Szeidl, A. (2015). Imported inputs and productivity. American Economic Review, 105(12), 3660-3703. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20150443

Hoekman, B., Sanfilippo, M., Santi, F., & Ticku, R. (2024). Trade, productivity, and services input intensity. Review of World Economics, 161, 309-337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10290-024-00548-2

Hsieh, C.-T., Li, N., Ossa, R., & Yang, M.-J. (2020). Accounting for the new gains from trade liberalization. Journal of International Economics, 127, Article103370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2020.103370

Irwin, D. A. (2025). Does trade reform promote economic growth? A review of recent evidence. The World Bank Research Observer, 40(1), 147-184. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkae003

Keller, K. (1998). Are international R&D spillovers trade-related? Analyzing spillovers among randomly matched trade partners. European Economic Review, 42(8), 1469-1481. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921(97)00092-5

Lumenga-Neso, O., Olarreaga, M., & Schiff, M. (2005). On indirect trade-related R&D spillovers. European Economic Review, 49(7), 1785-1798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2004.06.004

Melitz, M. J. (2003). The impact of trade on intra-industry reallocations and aggregate industry productivity. Econometrica, 71(6), 1695-1725. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0262.00467

Rodríguez, F., & Rodrik, D. (2000). Trade policy and economic growth: a skeptic’s guide to the cross-national evidence. In B. S. Bernanke & K. Rogoff (Eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual (volumen 15, pp. 261-338). Mit Press. https://www.nber.org/chapters/c11058

Sachs, J. D., Warner, A., Aslund, A., & Fischer, S. (1995). Economic reform and the process of global integration. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1995(1), 1-118. https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/economic-reform-and-the-process-of-global-integration/

Smeets, V., & Warzynski, F. (2013). Estimating productivity with multi-product firms, pricing heterogeneity and the role of international trade. Journal of International Economics, 90(2), 237-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.01.003

Timmer, M. P., Dietzenbacher, E., Los, B., Stehrer, R., & De Vries, G. J. (2015). An illustrated user guide to the world input–output database: the case of global automotive production. Review of International Economics, 23(3), 575-605. https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12178

Vogel, A., & Wagner, J. (2010). Higher productivity in importing German manufacturing firms: self-selection, learning from importing, or both? Review of World Economics, 145, 641-665. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10290-009-0031-4

Yasar, M. (2013). Imported capital input, absorptive capacity, and firm performance: Evidence from firm-level data. Economic Inquiry, 51(1), 88-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2010.00352.x