Who profits from trade facilitation initiatives?

Gains from trade facilitation accrue to large and small firms alike: all size classes of firms export more in response to improved trade facilitation. Our findings therefore contribute to policy debate on the distribution of benefits of trade facilitation, as well as to firm-level literature on the export effects of improved trade facilitation. Distributional concerns do not undermine evidence showing that trade facilitation can boost trade and real incomes across the globe, in countries at all levels of development. However, government policies should include mechanisms to monitor real impacts of trade facilitation initiatives and create checks for unequal distribution of benefits