Government demand and firm growth
利用乌干达行政数据和事件研究方法，发现企业获得政府合同后总销售额上升，但生产率未改善，且对非政府客户的销售大幅下降，这种资源重新分配效应持续存在。
Public procurement in developing countries accounts for approximately 13% of GDP, offering a significant market opportunity for domestic firms, especially those facing demand constraints. This paper explores the impact of selling to government entities on firm performance in Uganda, leveraging detailed administrative data and an event study methodology that corrects for firm self-selection and heterogeneity in the timing of the treatment. The results reveal that while firms increase their total sales after entering government contracts, they do not see improvements in productivity (measured by value added per worker). Moreover, sales to non-government customers drop sharply. This reallocation effect is persistent. This effect is not observed when firms start to sell to large private-sector buyers. Drawing on an original survey of firms engaged in public procurement, we highlight potential drivers of these dynamics, including capacity constraints and profitability differences between public and private sector sales.