What Do Market-Access Subsidies Do?

Columbia PhD candidate Nadia Ali delivered a talk titled "What Do Market-Access Subsidies Do? Experimental Evidence from Tunisia" at the Mediterranean School of Business (MSB) in Tunis, Tunisia, on January 30, 2025. The event was attended by MSB faculty, visiting researchers, and PhD students.

The talk presented findings from a research project that evaluates an export promotion program in Tunisia. The project investigators are Nadia Ali, CDEP co-director Eric Verhoogen, Giacomo De Giorgi (University of Geneva), and Aminur Rahman (Asian Development Bank).

This project is the first randomized evaluation of a government financial support program specifically designed to boost exports: Tunisia’s TASDIR+ program. With a $22 million budget, TASDIR+ provided a 50% subsidy for export-related costs. In addition to promoting general export growth, the program sought to diversify both markets—focusing on non-traditional regions like the Maghreb and Eastern Europe—and products, by encouraging the export of new, high-value goods and services. The project combines rich administrative and survey data to assess the program's impact on firm performance.