关键词: 事实汇率制度, 企业生产率, 出口产品质量

Abstract: Based on the firm heterogeneity perspective, this paper studies the impact of the de facto exchange rate regime on the quality of Chinese export products. Theoretically, the de facto fixed exchange rate regime can lower the productivity threshold for firms when exporting, and the influx of inefficient firms may reduce the quality of export products. However, an increase in the productivity of firms can not only enhance the quality of export products, but also alleviate the limiting effects that the de facto fixed exchange rate regime has on the quality of export products. For highly efficient firms, the de facto fixed exchange rate regime is no longer an obstacle to the quality of export products produced by these firms. This paper adopts highly detailed firm-level data to empirically verify the above-proposed mechanisms and it finds that only a small fraction of Chinese firms can reach or even exceed the threshold productivity level required by the de facto fixed exchange rate regime without affecting the quality of export products. As a result, the de facto fixed exchange rate regime makes it difficult to increase Chinese firms' export product quality, and therefore they can only increase their product quality and outgrow their global competition by increasing their own productivity level.

Key words: de facto exchange rate regime, firm productivity, export product quality