KCG Working Papers

KCG Working Paper No. 28: Big Data Analytics and Exports – Evidence for Manufacturing Firms from 27 EU Countries

22nd September 2023
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Author: Joachim Wagner

The use of big data analytics (including data mining and predictive analytics) by firms can be expected to increase productivity and reduce trade costs, which should be positively related to export activities. This paper uses firm level data from the Flash Eurobarometer 486 survey conducted in February – May 2020 to investigate the link between the use of big data analytics and export activities in manufacturing enterprises from the 27 member countries of the European Union[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 26: Special Economic Zones in Ghana: A Case Study of Enclaves in Tema, Dawa and Sekondi

6th June 2023
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Authors: Vera Acheampong, Nana Yaw Agyeman Owusu and Nina Kupzig

Many countries introduced concepts related to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to promote export-led economic growth. However, the concepts and implementation of SEZs vastly differ, resulting in large differences between and within countries. Therefore, this study seeks to assess the current state of Ghana’s Special Economic Zones while identifying challenges to SEZ enclave development in Ghana[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 25: Special Economic Zones and Household Welfare: New Evidence from Ghana

5th June 2023
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Authors: Charles G. Ackah, Robert D. Osei, Nana Y.A. Owusu and Vera Acheampong

The study evaluates the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on household welfare (per capita consumption expenditure (PCE) and poverty status) in Ghana using the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey Dataset. SEZs spillover effect on household welfare within a binary treatment condition may lead to finding inadequacy for policy[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 24: Exports and New Products in China – A Generalized Propensity Score Approach with Firm-to-Firm Spillovers

14th June 2021
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Autthors: Yundan Gong and Aoife Hanley

Underpinning China’s technological advancement are the twin-engines of exports and innovation. To better understand China’s meteoric economic transformation, we explore the extent to which new products are triggered by exports (direct effects) and by exposure to other exporters (indirect effects)[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 23: Productivity effects of processing and ordinary export market entry: A time-varying treatments approach

30th March 2021
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Authors: Sourafel Girma and Holger Görg

China’s policy of encouraging export processing has been the topic of much discussion in the academic literature and policy debate. We use a recently developed econometric approach that allows for time varying “treatments” and estimate economically and statistically significant positive causal effects of entering into export processing and ordinary export markets on subsequent firm level productivity[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 22: Why are Africa’s Female Entrepreneurs not Playing the Export Game? Evidence from Ghana

7th October 2020
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Authors: Charles Ackah, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley, and Cecília Hornok

We explore the export performance of Africa’s underperforming female entrepreneurs, using the Ghanaian ISSER-IGC panel, a comprehensive dataset of manufacturing firms for 2011–2015. Uniquely, the data provides information about the severity of key business constraints, across both male and female entrepreneurs[...]

KCG Working Paper No. 21: Does the Belt and Road Initiative Stimulate Chinese Exports? The Role of State-Owned Enterprises

16th January 2020
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Authors: Holger Görg and Haiou Mao


This paper evaluates firms’ exporting responses to BRI and considers their heterogeneity in ownership types, product types, regional origin and trade mode. This is done by analyzing firm-product-destination level customs data from 2011 to 2015 in a gravity model framework