WEBINAR RECORDING · 2025-01
Digital Trade and Development
In this conversation: Emmanuel Orkoh; discussant Johanna Hill; moderators Ben Shepherd and Hanna Norberg.
Emmanuel Orkoh examines whether online presence can broaden firms’ participation in exports. Johanna Hill connects the evidence to digital infrastructure, skills, regulation, and WTO cooperation. Their exchange distinguishes helping disadvantaged firms trade from ensuring those firms catch up with stronger competitors.
Session information draws on the recording and its original description. Affiliations and policy context refer to the time of the webinar.
FROM THE CONVERSATION
Three takeaways.
What they mean in practice.
Prepared from the session recording using automatic transcription and editorial review. Follow the timestamp links for the original wording and context.
Online presence is linked to export entry and scale
Watch 18:20 ↗Orkoh uses World Bank Enterprise Survey data spanning many countries and years to model firms’ probability of exporting and export levels. His estimates suggest benefits on both margins. Online presence is broadly defined, including email and internet use as well as websites; it does not mean every observed firm sells through an e-commerce platform.
Policy interpretation: Consider basic digital adoption alongside sophisticated platforms when identifying barriers to international participation.
Wider participation need not close performance gaps
Watch 35:13 ↗Orkoh separates a weaker inclusiveness claim—disadvantaged firms benefit—from a stronger one that they benefit relatively more. Hill welcomes opportunities for small businesses and women-led firms but highlights heterogeneous gains and advantages enjoyed by more productive firms. The session does not support treating digitalization alone as an equalizer.
Policy interpretation: Measure participation and relative disparities separately; target complementary support where adoption does not overcome other disadvantages.
Connectivity must work with skills and institutions
Watch 36:37 ↗Hill emphasizes infrastructure, digital and business skills, trusted payments, privacy, and export-market access. Her account of diagnostic work links country-specific constraints to technical assistance. Asked about aid for trade, she connects services data and competitiveness analysis to practical export and investment promotion.
Policy interpretation: Build integrated country programs around diagnosed obstacles rather than assuming internet access completes the task.
From the discussion
At 45:17–46:13, Shepherd asks whether determinants of online presence are policy instruments or observed outcomes. Orkoh explains the variables and instruments; Shepherd identifies a separate research agenda on telecom regulations that generate connectivity. At 60:18, Hill asks for more evidence on how national policies help firms use opportunities from international cooperation. The exchange identifies the missing bridge between an adoption relationship and an actionable reform package.
