Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263674 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15458
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The lack of information is a relevant obstacle to the export activity of small and medium enterprises. This paper analyzes whether banks can support firms’ export by reducing informational asymmetries about foreign markets. We exploit a large sample of Italian firms for which we merge custom data with information on their lender banks. We identify a shock exogenous to firms’ export decisions by relying on preexisting lending relationships and exploiting the acquisition of a firm’s domestic bank by an internationalized banking group. Our results show that, after the acquisition, firms have a significantly higher probability of starting export in countries where the consolidated bank has a foreign branch, which proxies for the amount of information accumulated that can be shared with client firms. Conversely, the effect on the intensive margins of previously-exporting companies is largely insignificant. We interpret these findings as evidence of information spillovers that mainly reduce firms’ fixed entry costs in a foreign market. The analysis also shows that other channels, such as bank credit availability or trade-finance supply, are unlikely to drive our results.
Subjects: 
firms
export
informational barriers
banks
JEL: 
F23
F14
G21
G00
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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