The role of subsidies for exports: Evidence for Portuguese manufacturing firms

Using a longitudinal database (1996-2003) at the plant level, this paper aims to shed light on the causal nexus between production-related subsidies and exports, in Portugal. Given that there is a selection of firms for subsidies we implement a propensity score matching approach in order to evaluate adequately the effects of subsidies on both the probability of domestic firms to begin exporting and on the probability of increasing the export share of already exporters. At one hand, we find no impact of subsidies on the ability of domestic firms to become exporters; at the other hand, some evidence of positive effects of subsidies are detected on export shares, especially for higher levels of subsidy per employee and for specific sectors as a clear sectoral heterogeneity is observed. Complementarily, some weak positive effects of subsidies are noticed in employment but no evidence is observed for firms´ sales or efficiency.