Determinants of Export-Oriented Firms' Activities in Russia

Following the new strand in the economic literature focusing on trade theory of the firms` heterogeneity and based on the Melitz model, which emphasizes the importance of firm productivity in entering foreign markets, this graduate qualification work examines the determinants of the export activity of Russian firms. The study includes estimation of probit regressions for all companies in general, as well as for the production and service sectors of the economy separately. The paper is based on the BEEPS dataset for 2010, which contains the characteristics of 4340 Russian firms from 37 regions and 32 sectors of economy. The results of the research reveal that the probability of export is positively related to the level of productivity, firm size, internationalization level, investments in R&D and age of the firms. In addition, it was found that the effect of productivity and the foreign ownership have different effects on production and service firms.