CESPEDES, Nikita; AQUIJE, Maria E.; SANCHEZ, Alan y Rafael VERA-TUDELA. Productividad y tratados de libre comercio a nivel de empresas en Perú. Lima: BCRP. Documento de trabajo, 14.

We study the empirical relationship between free trade agreement and productivity in Peru by using a pseudo experimental model. Two productivity indicators, which are measured at the firm level are considered: labor productivity and total factor productivity. We find that firms involved in international free trade either as exporters and / or importers have systematically higher productivity compared to those
firms that sell their production to the domestic market only. The free trade agreements, on average, generate a positive productivity gap; also, companies targeting their sales to the United States of America have the largest productivity gaps. Our results are robust to controls for firms’ observable heterogeneity and to firms’ selection bias due to death and / or rotation.