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on International Activities of Firms |
| By: | Gabor Bekes; Matyas Molnar; Claudia Steinwender |
| Abstract: | Search and matching frictions prevent firms from forming international trade linkages. Despite trade fairs being a common and often subsidized tool to overcome these frictions, we lack causal evidence on how they facilitate link formation. We exploit a unique feature of Hungarian firms' participation in the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, where a trial exhibition revealed firms' ex-ante export potential category to develop a novel bounding strategy that compares treated firms to control groups from "above" and "below" in export potential. To implement our empirical strategy, we constructed a novel panel dataset of approximately 3, 600 Hungarian manufacturing firms for the 1896–1906 period by digitizing, parsing and linking over 12, 000 records across eleven historical sources, including exhibition catalogs, government surveys, commercial directories, official gazettes and patenting directories. We find that participation increases export probability by 4-10 percentage points, patenting probability by 4-6 percentage points and employment by 16–23% over eight years. Effects are larger when firms face fewer domestic competitors and more potential international buyers. This highlights both matching benefits and congestion effects when search and matching frictions are reduced. |
| Keywords: | buyer-supplier links, export promotion, trade fairs, search frictions, industrial policy, economic history |
| JEL: | F13 F14 N84 O14 L25 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12714 |
| By: | Francesco Amodio; Giorgio Chiovelli; Serafin Frache |
| Abstract: | We show that commodity export booms can propagate up the value chain, reshape production networks, and drive growth and transformation in the service sector. We study Uruguay's beef export boom to China in the 2010s, combining customs, firm-to-firm transactions, employer-employee, and balance sheet data. Domestic suppliers to beef exporters that expanded trade with China recorded higher sales, especially in services, with associated gains in employment, wages, and sales per worker, along with increased imports of high-quality products. Aggregate sales in the economy rose by 1.79%, with each export dollar generating 46 more cents in domestic sales, including 10 cents in services. Over time, service firms reoriented their connections toward beef exporters, amplifying their gains from trade. |
| Keywords: | commodity exports, production network, services, China shock |
| JEL: | F14 L14 O14 O54 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26158 |
| By: | Amodio, Francesco (McGill University); Chiovelli, Giorgio (Universidad de Montevideo); Frache, Serafin (Universidad de Montevideo) |
| Abstract: | We show that commodity export booms can propagate up the value chain, reshape production networks, and drive growth and transformation in the service sector. We study Uruguay’s beef export boom to China in the 2010s, combining customs, firm-to-firm transactions, employer-employee, and balance sheet data. Domestic suppliers to beef exporters that expanded trade with China recorded higher sales, especially in services, with associated gains in employment, wages, and sales per worker, along with increased imports of high-quality products. Aggregate sales in the economy rose by 1.79%, with each export dollar generating 46 more cents in domestic sales, including 10 cents in services. Over time, service firms reoriented their connections toward beef exporters, amplifying their gains from trade. |
| Keywords: | commodity exports, production network, services, China shock |
| JEL: | F14 L14 O14 O54 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18703 |
| By: | Békés, Gábor; Molnar, Matyas; Steinwender, Claudia |
| Abstract: | Search and matching frictions prevent firms from forming international trade linkages. Despite trade fairs being a common and often subsidized tool to overcome these frictions, we lack causal evidence on how they facilitate link formation. We exploit a unique feature of Hungarian firms’ participation in the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, where a trial exhibition revealed firms’ ex-ante export potential category to develop a novel bounding strategy that compares treated firms to control groups from “above†and “below†in export potential. To implement our empirical strategy, we constructed a novel panel dataset of approximately 3, 600 Hungarian manufacturing firms for the 1896–1906 period by digitizing, parsing and linking over 12, 000 records across eleven historical sources, including exhibition catalogs, government surveys, commercial directories, official gazettes and patenting directories. We find that participation increases export probability by 4-10 percentage points, patenting probability by 4-6 percentage points and employment by 16–23% over eight years. Effects are larger when firms face fewer domestic competitors and more potential international buyers. This highlights both matching benefits and congestion effects when search and matching frictions are reduced. |
| JEL: | F13 F14 N84 O14 L25 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21574 |
| By: | Charlotte Emlinger (CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique); Karine Latouche (SMART - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the impact of firms' quality policies on export performance. Using French administrative data at the employee and firm levels, we assess the level of firms' commitment to issues related to product reliability and safety through the presence of quality management personnel. We merge these data with French customs data, which provide the value and quantity of exports for each firm by product and destination. We show that firms with quality management employees export higher volumes and have longer trade relationships, especially in non-European markets with stringent standards (higher number of sanitary and phytosanitary or technical measures). Overall, our paper highlights the role of agri-food firms' "quality investment" in export performance. |
| Keywords: | Non-tariff-measures, Trade duration, Trade margins, Quality management |
| Date: | 2026–06–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05656987 |
| By: | de Nicola, Francesca; Ragoussis, Alexandros; Schmidt-Eisenlohr, Tim; Tran, Trang Thu |
| Abstract: | Letters of credit are a key trade finance instrument that covers more than 10 percent of global trade, with a notably larger role in low- and middle-income economies. Studying detailed trade data from Viet Nam, this paper documents how the use of letters of credit varies with firm characteristics. The paper shows that the probability of using a letter of credit is systematically lower for younger, smaller, and foreign-owned trading firms. Importers that are less diversified or have less trading experience are more likely to use letters of credit. Firm characteristics have the strongest effects in markets where information is scarce and enforcement is weak. These patterns are consistent with a model in which the ability to screen trading partners and the cost of bank intermediation vary with firm characteristics, and where a firm’s screening ability and country institutions are substitutes. Any policy or intervention that aims at increasing the use of bank-intermediated trade finance will therefore need to take firm heterogeneity into account. |
| Date: | 2026–06–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11404 |