Financial Dependence and Intensive Margin of Trade

This paper analyze the survival of developing countries exports using the methodology developed by Rajan and Zingales (1998). An exporter faces multiple obstacles when entering new markets: imperfect information about the market, quality requirements of the importing countries, trade and marketing costs etc. Only firms with sufficient financial resources and high productivity can enter the international market. (Melitz 2003; Chaney 2005; Berman 2009). Therefore, one can expect exporters from a country with a well functioning financial markets to survive longer than exporters from a country where the financial markets are underdeveloped. In particular, we check if the exports of industries heavily dependent on external finance survive longer in foreign markets when produced in countries with developed financial system.