Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia

This paper evaluates the effects of the FAMEX export promotion program in Tunisia on the performance of beneficiary firms. While most studies assess only the short-term impact of such programs, we consider also the longer-term impact. Our estimates suggest that the average beneficiary initially saw...

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Main Authors:	Cadot, Olivier, Fernandes, Ana M., Gourdon, Julien, Mattoo, Aaditya
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Elsevier 2016
Subjects:	export promotion trade facilitation export margins propensity-score matching impact evaluation
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23936

id	okr-10986-23936
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-239362021-04-23T14:04:18Z Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia Cadot, Olivier Fernandes, Ana M. Gourdon, Julien Mattoo, Aaditya export promotion trade facilitation export margins propensity-score matching impact evaluation This paper evaluates the effects of the FAMEX export promotion program in Tunisia on the performance of beneficiary firms. While most studies assess only the short-term impact of such programs, we consider also the longer-term impact. Our estimates suggest that the average beneficiary initially saw both higher overall export levels and greater diversification across destinations and products. However, three years after the intervention, beneficiaries' export levels and diversification were no longer significantly different from those of a control group. Furthermore, the effects were heterogeneous across firms: small and large firms saw no positive impact on export levels, and even the positive impact on medium sized firms was temporary. The temporariness of the impact was not due to spillovers to non-beneficiary firms which helped them to catch up, or to greater exposure of beneficiaries to crisis-affected economies. Rather, the impact may be transient because the program did not lead to the enhancements in product quality or sophistication which could have strengthened competitiveness durably. Notwithstanding its transient effect, the relatively low-cost FAMEX still generated two Tunisian Dinars of private profits per Dinar of program expenditure, and the additional corporate tax revenue just covered the public cost of the program. 2016-03-10T20:55:03Z 2016-03-10T20:55:03Z 2015-11 Journal Article Journal of International Economics 0022-1996 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23936 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Elsevier Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa Tunisia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	export promotion trade facilitation export margins propensity-score matching impact evaluation
spellingShingle	export promotion trade facilitation export margins propensity-score matching impact evaluation Cadot, Olivier Fernandes, Ana M. Gourdon, Julien Mattoo, Aaditya Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa Tunisia
description	This paper evaluates the effects of the FAMEX export promotion program in Tunisia on the performance of beneficiary firms. While most studies assess only the short-term impact of such programs, we consider also the longer-term impact. Our estimates suggest that the average beneficiary initially saw both higher overall export levels and greater diversification across destinations and products. However, three years after the intervention, beneficiaries' export levels and diversification were no longer significantly different from those of a control group. Furthermore, the effects were heterogeneous across firms: small and large firms saw no positive impact on export levels, and even the positive impact on medium sized firms was temporary. The temporariness of the impact was not due to spillovers to non-beneficiary firms which helped them to catch up, or to greater exposure of beneficiaries to crisis-affected economies. Rather, the impact may be transient because the program did not lead to the enhancements in product quality or sophistication which could have strengthened competitiveness durably. Notwithstanding its transient effect, the relatively low-cost FAMEX still generated two Tunisian Dinars of private profits per Dinar of program expenditure, and the additional corporate tax revenue just covered the public cost of the program.
format	Journal Article
author	Cadot, Olivier Fernandes, Ana M. Gourdon, Julien Mattoo, Aaditya
author_facet	Cadot, Olivier Fernandes, Ana M. Gourdon, Julien Mattoo, Aaditya
author_sort	Cadot, Olivier
title	Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
title_short	Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
title_full	Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
title_fullStr	Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
title_full_unstemmed	Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia
title_sort	are the benefits of export support durable? : evidence from tunisia
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23936
_version_	1764455211971117056

Are the Benefits of Export Support Durable? : Evidence from Tunisia

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