Estimating export equations: a survey of the literature

Export is an important component of national income. It is one of the main determinants of the development level of countries. Both developed and developing countries formulate policies to increase their exports, to increase quality, technology and value added of exported products and to gain competitive advantage in world markets. Export equations provide valuable information regarding this decision making process. Aim of this study was to conduct a survey on extensive literature on estimation of export equations. The literature on export equations can be grouped mainly into four levels of analysis from macro to micro: aggregated level exports, country-level, sector-level and firm-level analyses. In this study, we have surveyed the literature on each level. In the last part, a survey of econometric techniques used in estimation of export equations has been provided, as well.