Les pôles de compétitivité wallons : Quel impact sur les performances économiques des entreprises ?

This paper analyzes the impact of the Walloon competitiveness clusters policy on the economic performances of firms. We study more particularly the impact on productivity, employment and exports. We use firm-level panel data for all firms in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, for the period 2003-2011. We use double and triple differences and matching techniques to address selection and simultaneity issues. Results suggest that the policy selected firms that were initially more productive and larger in terms of employment. It seems however that the policy had no effect on productivity, nor on the value of exports. However, their entry into clusters seems to coincide with a slight increase in their number of employees and in their value added the year they enter the cluster, as well as with an increase in the variety of exported products.