Evaluating SME Support Programs in Chile Using Panel Firm Data
This paper evaluates small and medium enterprise (SME) support programs in Chile using a firm-level panel for the 1992-2006 period on two groups of firms a treatment group that participated in SME programs and a control group that did not. These...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20091020140405 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4274 |
| Summary: | This paper evaluates small and medium
enterprise (SME) support programs in Chile using a
firm-level panel for the 1992-2006 period on two groups of
firms a treatment group that participated in SME programs
and a control group that did not. These unique panel data
provide an unprecedented opportunity to address several
issues that have plagued impact evaluations of SME programs
selectivity bias from observed and unobserved firm
heterogeneity, identification of an appropriate control
group, and inability to track firms over a long enough
period of time for performance outcomes to be realized.
Using difference-in-differences models combined with
propensity score matching methods, the paper finds evidence
that participation in SME programs in Chile is associated
with improvements in intermediate outcomes (training,
adoption of new technology and organizational practices),
and causally with positive and statistically significant
impacts on sales, production, labor productivity, wages and
exports. The mixed results of previous studies may be
attributable in part to the confounding effects of
unobserved heterogeneity motivating selection into programs
of firms with relatively low productivity levels, and in
part to time-effects of program participation occurring in
years after the time horizon of most impact evaluation studies. |
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