Egyptian Rug Firms Weave Their Way into Foreign Markets

Original source

Priyanka Varma (Briefcase Author)

Egyptian Rug Firms Weave Their Way into Foreign Markets (2019)

J-PAL policy briefcase; summary of an evaluation · J-PAL Policy Briefcase

Permission for School’s use is unestablished.

Used in these cards

Export Market Access

"Offering small firms the opportunity to export rugs increased profits. Exporting firms' monthly profits increased by 26 percent relative to the comparison group."

Multi-Dimensional Quality Measurement

"A master artisan intermittently measured the quality of firms' rugs along eleven dimensions: corners, waviness, weight, touch, packedness, warp thread tightness, firmness, design accuracy, warp thread packedness, inputs, and loom."

Quality Lab Evaluation

"When the loom, the inputs, and the specifications of the rug were held identical in the rented workshop location, exporting firms produced rugs faster and at a higher quality, suggesting improvements in efficiency."

Specification-Adjusted Productivity Divergence

"Outside this 'quality lab' setting, however, output per labor hour fell for exporting firms. This was primarily because they produced rugs with more difficult specifications in response to export demands (including higher thread counts, more colors, and more complicated designs)."

Trade Cost Barrier Reduction

"Other interventions or policies that reduce barriers to exporting—including by reducing tariffs or other trade costs—may generate similar benefits for SMEs in low- and middle-income countries."

Trade Intermediary Knowledge Brokerage

"Quality improved most along the particular dimensions discussed in meetings between Hamis Carpets and the producer, suggesting that improvements in efficiency occurred partly through knowledge transfers from intermediaries and foreign buyers and partly through firms' practice in producing rugs to these technical specifications."