摘要：The relationship between product quality (as indicated by unit value) and export performance, both measured in absolute (per capita) and relative terms, is investigated. Five EU countries (DE, UK, FR, ES, IT), three product categories (cheese, meat preparations and wine), three export destinations (intra EU, extra EU and world) and two time periods (1995-1999 and 2000-201) are analysed. The estimation results show that the connection between quality and export performance is positive for Italy, Spain and France but depends on the product category (but not on the period), and differs (but not in all cases) according to the export destination. While the signs of the estimated slope coefficients are stable, the obtained statistical significance levels for these parameters depend on the measure used (relative or absolute) and on the estimation method (OLS or GLS). The main implication arising from this analysis is that it may be justified to introduce 'marketing of high-quality products' as a new academic discipline, teaching students and professionals in it and thus to contribute to the enhancement of EU agribusiness competitiveness in increasingly liberalised markets.
