Exporter performance and promotion instruments: Chilean empirical evidence

During recent decades, the good performance of the export sector has been one of the main sources of fast economic growth in the Chilean economy. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of some public promotion instruments on the export sector. Using plant level data, the econometric evidence shows that these kinds of policies have generated a positive impact on firm performance. We identify qualitative and quantitative effects. In qualitative aspects, we find a positive impact on technological innovation and several aggressive activities in international markets. In quantitative terms, we can infer that promotion instruments are effective for increasing exports and markets. However, there is no evidence of any positive impact on the number of products exported by the firms. In addition, our results suggest that only some instruments, specifically export committees, are effective for opening new markets and for increasing exports.