Philipp Barteska (University of Hong Kong), Oliver Kim (Open Philanthropy), Nathan Lanes (London School of Economics), and Seung Joo Lee (Oxford University) in this paper examines how U.S. military procurement during the Vietnam War catalyzed South Korea’s export-led industrialization. Using new firm-level data, the authors demonstrate that winning an initial contract tripled a firm’s export value and increased the likelihood of exporting by 46 percentage points. These effects persisted long-term and extended to third-country markets. Ultimately, procurement acted as a powerful industrial policy, complementary to South Korea’s later heavy industry drive.
