Local economic development through export-led growth : the Chilean case

We study the causal impact of export growth on Chilean local economic development by exploiting spatial and time variations in local exposure arising from past differences in industry specialization across local labor markets and the evolution of tariffs and exports across industries. We find that growing exports implied a significant reduction in labor informality and labor income gains in more exposed local markets, driven by job creation and wage growth in the formal sector. These effects concentrate on senior skilled workers. Exposed locations also exhibit a relative decline in monetary poverty.