Research
Most of my current work uses longitudinal plant- and product- level data to examine the role of trade and trade policy in determining firm-level outcomes.
-
Firms and Place-Based Policy: Evidence from Special Economic Zones in the Philippines. Working Paper.
Using twenty years of manufacturing plant-level data merged with information on a firm's location and special economic zone (SEZ) status, I provide the first causal evaluation of Philippine SEZ policy at the firm-level. I embed SEZs in a Melitz-type partial equilibrium model and examine the hypothesized effects of SEZs at the firm-level. Using both quasi-experimental and endogenous switching approaches I find that SEZs positively affect firm size and productivity, albeit treatment effects are highly heterogeneous. Estimates from endogenous switching regressions show that firms less likely to select into SEZs are also less likely to benefit. Furthermore, the benefits of SEZs do not seem to spillover to non-registered firms within the same neighborhood. Finally, firms in publicly governed SEZs are 60 percent less productive compared to their counterparts in private zones.
-
No Change, No Gain: Exporting, Diversification, and Firm Growth in the Philippines (with Jesus Felipe and Nanditha Mathew). Working Paper.
We merge manufacturing plant-level data with the universe of firm-product-level export transactions in the Philippines to measure the effects of exporting and export diversification on firm-level outcomes. We measure these effects through switching regressions and an exclusion restriction strategy that correct for selection into exporting and diversification. Overall, we find no evidence of that exporting is growth-enhancing, while diversification positively impacts output and employment, but has no impact on productivity.
- A Profile of the Largest 1,000 Firms in the Philippines and the Manufacturing Sector (with Jesus Felipe and Nanditha Mathew). AKI Working Paper Series, 2025.
- The IMF-World Bank Meetings and their Recommendations for Asia: an Assessment (with Jesus Felipe). AKI Policy Briefs, 2024.