Graduation date: 2007This dissertation investigates the relative importance of firm-specific and geographic characteristics for export behavior in the Chilean primary and processed food industries. The first essay develops a new method for measuring geographic characteristics to account for economic activity in adjacent, but separate spatial units. In the application to the Chilean manufacturing industry, the proposed index better identifies the presence of locational forces (e.g., technological spillovers or natural advantages) than do traditional indexes. Results suggest a higher geographic concentration of Chilean manufacturing firms through technological spillovers in highly populated areas, and access to natural resources in areas that are farther from large cities. The second essay analyzes the determinants of Chilean farms’ decision to produce exportables, i.e., export participation. An export behavior model is estimated using farm-level data from the Chilean Census of Agriculture and a two-stage conditional maximum likelihood procedure. Results show that a farm’s efficiency or productivity is more important than its location for its export participation. When a high-productivity farm locates in a region with better geographic characteristics, its likelihood of producing for export markets is higher. On the other hand, an opposite result is obtained when a low-productivity farm locates in regions with better geographic attributes. The latter suggests that farms must achieve a minimum level of efficiency for geographic characteristics to positively affect their export participation. The third essay investigates firms’ decision to export as well as that on how much to export (intensity) in the Chilean processed food industries. Results show the relative importance of sunk costs, foreign ownership and firm size in the Chilean firms’ export decision. Productivity and geography play a more prominent role in firms’ export-intensity decision in selected industries. In general, firm-specific characteristics appear to be more important than geographic attributes for export behavior. The three essays contribute to a better understanding of firms’ export behavior, in particular those in the Chilean agriculture and processed food industries. By providing insights into factors affecting export behavior, these three essays have implications for public policies to encourage firms’ participation in global markets.