Evidence from Austrian Firm-Level Data

This paper provides an economic assessment of export credit guarantee commitments by the Austrian export credit agency, using firm-level data on a cross-section of 178 Austrian exporting firms for the year 2008. In a first step, we estimate the relative importance of various determinants of export guarantee usage. Results suggest that the most crucial determinants are: firm size, whether or not the firm is part of a multinational enterprise, exposure to revenue risk, and R&D intensity. In a second step, we investigate the effects of export guarantees on export performance. Identification is achieved by using as instruments the exogenous determinants of export guarantee usage identified in the first step. We find that there are economically and statistically significant effects of export credit guarantee usage on firmspecific export performance ranging from some 80 to 100 percent compared with the control group of non-users. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] 2012/048/W/0 © 2012 Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Medieninhaber (Verleger), Hersteller: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung • 1030 Wien, Arsenal, Objekt 20 • Tel. (43 1) 798 26 01-0 • Fax (43 1) 798 93 86 • http://www.wifo.ac.at/ • Verlagsund Herstellungsort: Wien Die Working Papers geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des WIFO wieder Kostenloser Download: http://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/43814 Export Credit Guarantees and Export Performance: Evidence from Austrian Firm-Level Data Harald Badinger Department of Economics, WU Vienna, Augasse 2-6, A-1090 Vienna, and Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) Tel.: +43 1 31336 4138, Fax: +43 1 31336 758 E-mail: [email protected] Thomas Url Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Arsenal, Objekt 20, A-1030 Vienna E-mail: [email protected]