Speaker
Description
Exporting offers high private and public returns, yet in most countries, only a few large, male-managed firms engage in exporting. We incentivize small, female-managed firms to form a consortium, a corporate group, to test whether they can collectively overcome the fixed export costs. We randomize 176 firms into four sectoral consortia or a control group and study the consortium’s effect on firm performance. After two years, treated firms are 16pp (+63%) more likely to export and double their sales. The results are driven by consortia members expanding and using their business networks more, gaining entrepreneurial confidence, and improving management practices. Yet, cooperation is also costly. Only half of the invited firms ultimately join the consortium, and conflicts arise over mutual effort and joint decision-making. Incentivizing horizontal integration of small firms offers a costeffective, scalable way to share investment costs for export or technology adoption, with the potential to foster broader economic development.
| Keyword | Impact Evaluation |
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