The Foreign Service and Foreign Trade: Embassies as Export Promotion

30 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2005

See all articles by Andrew Kenan Rose

Andrew Kenan Rose

University of California - Haas School of Business; NUS Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

As communication costs fall, foreign embassies and consulates have lost much of their role in decision-making and information-gathering. Accordingly, foreign services are increasingly marketing themselves as agents of export promotion. I investigate whether exports are in fact systematically associated with diplomatic representation abroad. I use a recent cross-section of data covering 22 large exporters and 200 import destinations. Bilateral exports rise by approximately 6-10% for each additional consulate abroad, controlling for a host of other features including reverse causality. The effect varies by exporter, and is non-linear; consulates have smaller effects than the creation of an embassy.

Keywords: International, import, destination, country, empirical, data, panel, consulate, gravity

JEL Classification: F13

Suggested Citation

Rose, Andrew Kenan and Rose, Andrew Kenan, The Foreign Service and Foreign Trade: Embassies as Export Promotion (March 2005). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 4953, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=770187

Andrew Kenan Rose (Contact Author)

University of California - Haas School of Business ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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