Export Promotion

Rationales for and Against Government Programs and Expenditures Gao ID: T-GGD-95-169 May 23, 1995

The U.S. government currently has several trade promotion programs that provide business counseling, training, market research information, export subsidies, and export finance assistance and sponsor trade missions and fairs. In today's tight budget environment, Congress is carefully reviewing all government programs and expenditures. Export promotion programs are receiving close scrutiny because they involve, at a minimum, government intervention in markets and, in the most expansive form, provide subsidies to the private sector. This testimony addresses the following issues: What are the justifications for such programs? Can money be saved and the programs made more cost effective? Are such programs, irrespective of whether they are cost effective and are grounded in an analytically defensible rationale, worthy of the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, given the extent of proposed cuts in a whole range of government programs?



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