Export Product Quality and Export Volume Growth: Evidence From China

Despite the broad recognition that enhancing export product quality is critical for sustaining export competitiveness, its specific impact on firm-level export growth remains underexplored. This study employs a two-way fixed effects model to analyze the impact of export product quality on export volume growth, based on firm-level data from 2000 to 2015. The baseline model results show export product quality promotes the dual margin (both the intensive and extensive margins of exports), intensive margin (the growth of export scale), and extensive margin (the scope of products and markets). The subgroup analysis of extensive margin indicates that the promotion effect of export product quality exists in the subgroups of Old Enterprises-New Products-Old Markets (ONO), Old Enterprises-Old Products-New Markets (OON), Old Enterprises-New Products-New Markets (ONN), and Old Enterprises-Old Products-Old Markets (OOO). Heterogeneity test results show that the export product quality has a greater role in promoting the extensive and intensive margins of the general trading enterprises, capital and technology-intensive industries, and has a greater effect in promoting the extensive margin in the western region.