ICT Effects on Firms’ Export Decisions: Evidence for Colombian Manufacturing

Abstract

This work aims at exploring the impact of several indicators of ICT on firms’ export decisions for Colombian manufacturing. To study this decision, we specify a model that accounts for sunk costs, firm experience in exporting and the impact of importing on exporting, and we estimate a dynamic (panel data) discrete model for the decision to export. To undertake this study, we merge three data bases at the firm level for Colombia: the Annual Manufacturing Survey (EAM), the Technological Development and Innovation Survey (EDIT) and the Annual ICT Manufacturing Survey (EAM-TIC), for the period 2013-2016. Our results show that ICTs have a significant and positive impact on firms’ propensity to export, regardless the ICT category examined. Our work also confirms the existence of persistence on firms’ exports, self-selection, and depreciation of export experience. This evidence contributes to the scarce empirical literature on this topic for emerging economies, such as Colombia.