The Smuggling of Art, and the Art of Smuggling: Uncovering the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property and Antiques
Abstract
We empirically analyze the illicit trade in cultural property and antiques, taking advantage of different reporting incentives between source and destination countries. We generate a measure of illicit trafficking in these goods by comparing imports recorded in United States' customs data and the (purportedly identical) trade recorded by customs authorities in exporting countries. This reporting gap is highly correlated with corruption levels of exporting countries. This correlation is stronger for artifact-rich countries. As a placebo test, we do not observe any such pattern for US imports of toys. We report similar results for four other Western country markets. (JEL F14, K42, Z11, Z13)Download Info
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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
Volume (Year): 1 (2009)
Issue (Month): 3 (July)
Pages: 82-96
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.1.3.82
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Raymond Fisman & Shang-Jin Wei, 2007. "The Smuggling of Art, and the Art of Smuggling: Uncovering the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property and Antiques," NBER Working Papers 13446, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
- K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
- Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- De Sousa, José & Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2012.
"Market Access in Global and Regional Trade,"
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Berger, Helge & Nitsch, Volker, 2008.
"Gotcha!: a profile of smuggling in international trade,"
Discussion Papers
2008/6, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
- Helge Berger & Volker Nitsch, 2008. "Gotcha! A Profile of Smuggling in International Trade," CESifo Working Paper Series 2475, CESifo Group Munich.
- Helge Berger & Volker Nitsch, 2008. "Gotcha! A Profile of Smuggling in International Trade," DEGIT Conference Papers c013_026, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
- Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza, 2009.
"Illegal trade in the Iranian economy: Evidence from a structural model,"
European Journal of Political Economy,
Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 489-507, December.
- Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2008. "Illegal Trade in the Iranian Economy: Evidence from a Structural Model," Working Papers 409, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2008.
- Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2008. "Illegal Trade in the Iranian Economy: Evidence from a Structural Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 2397, CESifo Group Munich.
- Robert C. Feenstra & Shang-Jin Wei, 2009.
"Introduction to “China’s Growing Role in World Trade”,"
NBER Working Papers
14716, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Robert C. Feenstra & Shang-Jin Wei, 2010. "Introduction to "China's Growing Role in World Trade"," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 1-31 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Olaf J. de Groot & Matthew D. Rablen & Anja Shortland, 2011.
"Gov-aargh-nance - "even criminals need law and order","
CEDI Discussion Paper Series
11-01, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
- Olaf J. de Groot & Matthew D. Rablen & Anja Shortland, 2011. "Gov-aargh-nance: "Even Criminals Need Law and Order"," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 46, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
- de Groot, Olaf J. & Rablen, Matthew D. & Shortland, Anja, 2011. "Gov-Aargh-Nance – “Even Criminals Need Law And Order”," NEPS Working Papers 7/2011, Network of European Peace Scientists.
- Anja Shortland & Sarah Percy, 2012. "Counter-Piracy in Somalia: Help or Hindrance?," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 12-03, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
- Jiro Honda, 2008. "Do IMF Programs Improve Economic Governance?," IMF Working Papers 08/114, International Monetary Fund.
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