While there is strong evidence for productivity-driven selection into exporting, the empirical literature has struggled to identify export-related efficiency gains within plants. Previous research typically derived revenue productivity (TFPR), which is downward biased if more efficient producers charge lower prices. Using a census panel of Chilean manufacturing plants, we compute plant-product level marginal cost as an efficiency measure that is not affected by output prices. For export entrant products, we find efficiency gains of 15-25%. Because markups remain relatively stable after export entry, most of these gains are passed on to customers in the form of lower prices, and are thus not reflected by TFPR. These results are confirmed when we use tariffs to predict export entry. We also document very similar results in Colombian and Mexican manufacturing plants. In addition, we find sizeable efficiency gains for tariff-induced export expansions of existing exporters. Only one quarter of these gains are reflected by TFPR, due to a partial rise in markups. Our results thus imply that within-plant gains from trade are substantially larger than previously documented. Evidence suggests that a complementarity between exporting and investment in technology is an important driver behind these gains.

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Trade credit is the most important form of short-term finance for firms. In 2019, U.S. non-financial firms had about $4.5 trillion in trade credit outstanding equaling 21 percent of U.S. GDP. This paper documents two striking facts about trade credit use. First, firms with higher markups supply more trade credit. Second, trade credit use increases in relationship length, as firms often switch from cash in advance to trade credit but rarely away from trade credit. These two facts can be rationalized in a model where firms learn about their trading partners, sellers charge markups over production costs, and financial intermediation is costly. The model also shows that saving on financial intermediation costs provides a strong rationale for the dominance of trade credit. Using Chilean data at the firm-product-level and the trade-transaction level, we find support for all predictions of the model.

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This paper employs a matched firm production-innovation panel dataset from Chile to explore the response of firm innovation to the increased competition arising from the China shock. The data cover a wider range of innovation inputs and outputs than previously possible and allow generating measures of markups and efficiency (TFPQ) that correspond closely to the concepts of rents and technological leadership envisaged in the Schumpeterian literature. Except for the 10 percent most productive plants that see an increase in quality, increased competition depresses most measures of innovation. These differences are exacerbated when interacted with plant-level movements in rents. (JEL D24, L25, L60, O14, O19, O31, O34)