Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms

Jonas Hjort, Vinayak Iyer and Golvine de Rochambeau

No 15219, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Evidence suggests that many firms in poor countries stagnate because they cannot access growth-conducive markets. We hypothesize that overlooked informational barriers distort market access. To investigate, we gave a random subset of medium-sized Liberian firms vouchers for a week-long program that exclusively teaches “sellership†: how to sell to corporations, governments, and other large buyers. Firms that participate win three times as many formal contracts a year later. The impact is heterogeneous: informational sales barriers bind for about a quarter of firms. Three years post-training, these firms continue to win desirable contracts, are more likely to operate, and employ more workers.

JEL-codes: D2 D83 O1 O25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ict
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms (2020)
Working Paper: Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms (2020)
Working Paper: Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms (2020)
Working Paper: Informational Barriers to Market Access: Experimental Evidence from Liberian Firms (2020)
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