Replication Data for: Bringing Home the Bacon: Politician Ambassadors and Home State Trade

Ambassadors promote domestic exports to a host country and represent the interests of their home country at large. However, are trade benefits equally distributed domestically? In the United States, a substantial number of ambassadors are former governors or legislators (“politician ambassadors”). We argue that these politician ambassadors are particularly equipped with knowledge and incentives to promote exports from their home states to host countries. Leveraging the biographic information of 164 ambassadors and US state-level exports to 30 major export destinations from 2002 to 2020, we find that the home states of politician ambassadors, compared to other states, on average enjoy a 10-percentage point increase in exports to host countries. The home-state effect is particularly apparent in countries where the US exports the most in dollar values, and in industries that export final goods. The past career path and future career aspirations of ambassadors can shape how the benefits of diplomacy are distributed domestically.