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The number of national export promotion agencies has tripled over the past two decades. Although more countries made them part of their export strategy, studies criticized their efficacy in developing countries. The agencies were retooled, partly in response to these critiques. This paper studies the impact of today's export promotion agencies and their strategies, based on new survey data covering 103 developing and developed countries. The results suggest that on average they have a statistically significant effect on exports. The identification strategies highlight the importance of EPA services for overcoming foreign trade barriers and solving asymmetric information problems associated with exports of heterogeneous goods. There are also strong diminishing returns, suggesting that as far as export promotion agencies are concerned, small is beautiful.

Asymmetric information --- Bilateral trade --- Budgetary support --- Capacity building --- Consumer preferences --- Consumers --- Debt Markets --- Diminishing returns --- Economic justification --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Exports --- Externalities --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Free Trade --- GDP --- GDP per capita --- International Economics & Trade --- International Trade --- ITC --- Macroeconomic stabilization --- Positive externalities --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Returns to scale --- Statistical analysis --- Technical assistance --- Trade barriers --- Trade Policy

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The number of national export promotion agencies (EPAs) has tripled over the past two decades. While more countries have made them part of their national export strategy, studies have criticized their efficiency in developing countries. Partly in reaction to these critiques, EPAs have been retooled (see ITC 1998 or 2000, for example). This paper studies the impact of existing EPAs and their strategies based on a new data set covering 104 industrial and developing countries. Results suggest that on average they have a strong and statistically significant impact on exports. For each USD 1 of export promotion, the paper estimates a USD 300 increase in exports for the median EPA. However, there is heterogeneity across regions, levels of development, and types of instruments. Furthermore, there are strong diminishing returns, suggesting that as far as EPAs are concerned, small is beautiful.

Asymmetric Information --- Budgetary Support --- Capacity Building --- Consumer Preferences --- Country Strategy and Performance --- Debt Markets --- Development --- Diminishing Returns --- E-Business --- Economic Justification --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Export Competitiveness --- Exports --- Externalities --- Failures --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- International Economics & Trade --- International Trade --- Investment --- ITC --- Law and Development --- Macroeconomic Stability --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Marketing --- Markets --- Positive Externalities --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Tax Law --- Technical Assistance --- Theory --- Trade --- Trade Policy --- Welfare