David Atkin (MIT) will present:
"Exporting and Firm Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Trial"
at 12:15pm on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 in (051 Buchanan) Volanakis - TUCK
Lunch will be served at noon.

If you will be attending the Lunch Seminar and have not already done so, please RSVP to Richard Reilly at TUCK so he can order the appropriate amount of food.
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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JygJXGwvrpscjqBO5Q3GigFD3aM9QBwmBkvllTtDADo/edit?usp=sharing

Abstract

We conduct a randomized control trial that generates exogenous variation in the access to foreign markets for rug producers in Egypt. Combined with detailed survey data, we causally identify the impact of exporting on profits and productivity. Treatment firms reports 16-26 percent higher profits and exhibit large improvements in quality alongside reductions in output per hour relative to control firms. These findings do not simply reflect firms being offered higher margins to manufacture high-quality products that take longer to produce. Instead, we find evidence of learning-by-exporting whereby exporting improves technical efficiency. First, treatment firms have higher productivity and quality after controlling for rug specification. Second, when asked to produce an identical domestic rug using the same inputs and same capital equipment, treatment firms produce higher quality rugs despite no difference in production time. Third, treatment firms exhibit learning curves over time. Finally, we document knowledge transfers with quality increasing most along the specific dimensions that the knowledge pertained to.





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