Digital production technologies and exports

This paper studies the relationship between digital production technologies and exports. Using data from the European Manufacturing Survey 2018 for Austrian, Croatian, German and Swiss manufacturing firms, we apply structural equation modelling to examine two possible transmission channels between digital production technologies and exports: first through productivity; second, through product-related services. The results reveal some heterogeneity in the ways different technologies relate to exports: while robots show a positive link with exports through the productivity channel, additive manufacturing and connected sensors are found to be positively related only to services which in turn influence exports. The results for logistics technologies, in contrast, suggest a positive relation with export activity through both channels.