Original Article
Innovation, patents and trade: A firm-level analysis
Evangelia Chalioti, Kyriakos Drivas, Sarantis Kalyvitis, Margarita Katsimi,
Corresponding Author
Margarita Katsimi
Athens University of Economics and Business
CESifo
Corresponding author: Margarita Katsimi, mkatsimi@aueb.grSearch for more papers by this authorEvangelia Chalioti, Kyriakos Drivas, Sarantis Kalyvitis, Margarita Katsimi,
Corresponding Author
Margarita Katsimi
Athens University of Economics and Business
CESifo
Corresponding author: Margarita Katsimi, mkatsimi@aueb.grSearch for more papers by this authorAbstract
Using microdata of firm exports and international patent activity, we find that Greek innovative exporters, identified by their patent filing activity, have substantially higher export revenues by selling higher quantities rather than charging higher prices. To account for this evidence, we set up a horizontally differentiated product model in which an innovative exporter competes for market share in a destination against many non-innovative rivals. We argue that as the competition among the exporters of the non-innovative product becomes more intense, the innovative firm exports more compared with its non-innovative rivals in more distant markets, a prediction that is empirically confirmed in the dataset for Greek innovative exporters.
Résumé
Innovation, brevets et commerce : analyse au niveau de l’entreprise. À l’aide de microdonnées d’entreprises relatives aux exportations et aux activités de brevetage international, nous montrons que les exportateurs grecs innovants, identifiés par leurs dépôts de brevets, réalisent des gains à l’exportation nettement supérieurs en misant davantage sur les volumes de vente que sur l’augmentation des prix. Pour expliquer cette situation, nous avons élaboré un modèle de différenciation horizontale de produits dans lequel les exportateurs novateurs sont en compétition avec de nombreux concurrents non innovants afin de gagner des parts de marché. Nous montrons qu’à mesure que la compétition s’intensifie entre les exportateurs de produits non innovants, l’entreprise innovante exporte davantage que ses concurrents vers les marchés plus éloignés ; cette prédiction se vérifie de façon empirique grâce aux données relatives aux exportateurs grecs innovants.
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