We analyze the impact of input tariffs on the export status and export performance of heterogeneous processing firms. Using a theoretical model with downstream firms exhibiting different levels of productivity, we show that lower input tariffs may increase the export sales of high-productivity firms at the expense of low-productivity firms and may decrease the probability of firms entering foreign markets. We compare the predictions of the theoretical model with firm-level data from the French agrifood sector by developing a two-stage estimation procedure that uses an equation for selection into export markets in the first stage and an export's equation in the second stage. The liberalization of agricultural trade appears to favor the reallocation of market share from low- to high-productivity agrifood firms. In addition, our results suggest that, whether lower input tariffs increase total export sales (and jobs), a large fraction of the least productive exporting firms may lose from an additional decrease in agricultural input tariffs

C HEVASSUS-LOZZA E. and G ALLIANO D. (2003) Local spillovers, firm organization and export behaviour: evidence from the French food industry, Reg. Studies 37 , 147-158. The objective of this paper is to determine the respective effects of spatial externalities (urban and industrial economies of agglomeration), specific internal characteristics (due to the organization of firms) and industrial spillovers (due to national specialization) on the export behaviour of firms. For this purpose, this econometric study, based on individual data of firms, distinguishes two aspects: firstly, the firms' decision to export or not; and, secondly its export performance. The first results confirm that the competitiveness of firms is not only due to the effect of national specialization, but also to firms specific advantages that are closely related to the characteristics of their spatial environment.Competitiveness, Spatial Externalities, Multi-plant Firms, Corporate Group, Food Industry,

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This paper explores an original data set identifying French agri‐food firms certified with two European private standards: the International Food Standard and/or the British Retail Consortium standard (BRC). Certified firms complying with such requirements are able to supply some European retailers with products sold under their retailers' own private label. Our analysis revealed that certified firms were among the biggest and most productive firms in the sample. Then, based on recent developments in international economics, we propose a modification of Chaney's model and estimations to test for the hypothesis that entering retailer networks reduces export costs faced by certified firms to access European union (EU) markets. After controlling for size and productivity effects, model estimations show that French firms who adopt BRC and enter the corresponding network benefit from better access through a significant decrease in their entry costs to certain EU markets.

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