Yu Ri Kim is a Junior Researcher at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Her expertise is International Trade, Development Economics, Social Network Analysis, and Impact Evaluation. Research topics include aid for trade, export diversification, promoting exports of small and medium sized enterprises in developing countries, and information dissemination among firms. She has field work experiences in Vietnam and Indonesia, especially with collecting firm-level data. She recently received her doctoral degree in International Studies from the University of Tokyo, with a dissertation titled ““The Effects of Export Promotion Programs in Developing Countries: Evidence from Country and Firm Level Analyses” in 2017. She holds Master’s degree in International Studies from Seoul National University

Session III - Agriculture and rural development II - 26/10/2017 14:15 - 16:15

Are Seminars on Export Promotion Effective? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper investigates the impacts of informational and motivational seminars on export promotion targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the traditional apparel and textile clusters in Vietnam. To control for biases due to self-selection, we conducted a randomized controlled trial and invited randomly selected firms to participate in one-day seminars. Because only some of the invited firms participated in the seminars, we employ an instrumental variable approach in which dummies for random invitation are used as instruments for quantifying participation. We find that the seminars had no significant effect on most firms' preparation for, the perception of, or engagement in exporting activity. However, the seminars encouraged large firms and firms with prior export experience, which possibly embody higher productivity and absorptive capacity, to (re-)start exporting. Our results suggest that productivity improvement is an effective means to encourage underdeveloped firms to export, whereas provision of information is effective for productive firms.

Other Speakers in this session:

Pierella Paci
Title TBC

Nicolas Depetris-Chauvin (University of Applied Sciences and Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève),
Agricultural Supply Chains, Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

Vincenzo Salvucci (United Nations University)
Effects of Food Price Shocks on Child Malnutrition: the Mozambican Experience 2008/2009