This thesis examines whether stronger competition enforcement in Mexico after the 2013 reform of the Federal Economic Competition Law contributed to export upgrading in innovation-intensive industries. The reform strengthened Mexico's competition institutions, especially COFECE and IFETEL, expanding their authority to regulate concentrated markets and penalize anti-competitive behavior. I ask whether these institutional changes affected export performance in sectors where innovation is especially important.
I argue that stronger competition can push firms to become more productive and technologically dynamic, particularly in industries closer to the technological frontier. If so, competition reform should not only improve domestic market efficiency but also strengthen export competitiveness in higher-value sectors.
To test this, I use a difference-in-differences framework comparing export performance across industries with different levels of innovation intensity before and after the 2013 reform. Using industry-level export data and measures of innovation intensity, this thesis evaluates whether more innovation-intensive sectors experienced stronger export growth after the reform. More broadly, it contributes to debates on competition policy, industrial upgrading, and development in emerging economies.