Impact evaluation of national export promotion programs on export firms using contrast groups

Abstract

This article assesses the impact of export promotion programs (EPP) on the export sales of the firms. The analysis is conducted with longitudinal data, contrasting groups of users and non-users, and ex-ante and ex-post data. The export sales data are obtained from the official database of the National Customs Service of Chile, to the region under study, from 2002-2011. The methodology used to assess the impact of this public policy is difference in difference (DID) with matching. Although the ex-ante and ex-post differences in export performance between users and non-users are positive, when comparing the groups that have used the programs, the results did not point out significant differences. The study raises the challenge to further analyse the impact of this public policy exploring other quantitative indicators of export performance available in official databases.