Blessing of geography: Impact of geographical indications on agricultural exports in India

Abstract

We examine the effect of geographical indications (GIs) on India's agricultural exports. We combine a novel dataset of state-product-year level exports with data on registered GIs for agricultural products in India from 2004 to 2016. Our identification strategy relies on exploiting the within-state-product variation in exports over time in response to GI registration. We find a significant positive effect of GIs on agricultural exports. We also observe that this increase is driven by government-owned GIs, and by GIs in states with more efficient courts and better transport infrastructure. Finally, we find a shift in cropping pattern, especially towards the GI-tagged crops, albeit at the district level.