From the Editor

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the third issue of The International Trade Journal (ITJ)’s thirty-fifth volume. The articles in this issue look at different aspects of exporting. They include studies looking at how manufacturing exports affect service export diversification, how export diversification affects growth, how importing and exporting affect firm productivity, and India’s exports of climate smart goods.

The first article in this issue, by Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, looks at the relationship between manufacturing exports and service export diversification. The study finds that service exports are more diversified in countries where manufacturing exports make up a large share of merchandise exports. The effect is particularly large in less developed economies.

The second article, by Sinesipho Siswana and Andrew Phiri, looks at the effect of export diversification on growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.¹ Using country-level data from 1995 to 2007, they find a negative long-run relationship between export diversification and growth in these countries. They did find some differences between countries with a positive cross-sectional relationship for China and India, but a negative relationship for Russia and South Africa.

The third article, by Luke Emeka Okafor, looks at the ability of Ghanaian firms to improve their productivity by exporting and using imported inputs.² The study finds that absorptive capacity, which is measured using skilled workers as a share of the workforce, affects firms’ ability to benefit from using imported inputs. For firms that import and export simultaneously, imported inputs improve productivity only when the firms have sufficient absorptive capacity.

The final article in this issue, by Pushp Kumar, Naresh Chandra Sahu, and Mohd Arshad Ansari, looks at Indian exports of climate smart goods.³ The authors estimate a gravity model of India’s exports of these goods to 39 other countries. The authors then calculate the residuals and use them to assess the potential for greater exports to these countries. They identify 15 countries with the greatest potential, including seven countries in Asia.

As usual, we would like to thank the people without whom the ITJ would not succeed. We would like to thank the authors who contribute their articles, the anonymous referees who give detailed and timely comments, the team at the International Trade Institute at Texas A&M International University who process submissions quickly and efficiently, our Editorial Board who guide the journal, and our publisher, Taylor and Francis, who ensures the ITJ keeps its high standards.

Notes

¹ Several recent articles in the ITJ, including Ribeiro, Carvalho, and Santos (2016) and Furuoka, Harvey, and Munir (2019) have looked at different aspects of the relationship between export diversification and growth.

² Sharma (2014) looks at Indian firm’s use of imported inputs, finding that imported inputs are associated with higher productivity in India.

³ Several earlier studies in the ITJ have looked at exports of climate smart goods (Dinda 2014; Saghaian et al. 2020).