Exporters' diversification stretegies : drivers and gains

The purpose of this study is to document empirically the factors driving firm's survival in the export market as well as the effects of exports on the productivity of French exporting firms. Our work plan is divided into three main parts. First, we have a more descriptive part, where we study the general structure of exports (intensive and extensive margin). Second, it was observed that exporting firms were on average more productive that firms only operating on the domestic market. Third, we would like to study how firms diversify their exports by adjusting the number of exported varieties and the number of destinations, and to estimate whether such diversification strategies affect firms' productivity.