Direct or indirect? The impact of political connections on export mode of Chinese private enterprises

The learning-by-exporting effect can vary by mode of export (direct or indirect via intermediaries), which raises the importance of understanding factors associated with how firms export. This paper investigates the effect of political connections, one form of informal institutions particularly important in China, on the choice of export mode by Chinese private enterprises. By using firm-level survey data and addressing endogeneity, we find that...