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Legal Costs as Barriers to Trade

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Author Info
Turrini, Alessandro Antonio
van Ypersele, Tanguy

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Abstract

Recent evidence shows that the 'home bias puzzle' in international trade may be associated with the mere presence of national borders (McCallum (1995)). In this paper we provide a theoretical framework to explain why borders may matter so much for trade. Our argument is that even between perfectly integrated and similar countries the legal system differs, so that legal costs are higher when business is done abroad. Using a matching model of trade, we show that legal costs asymmetry produce home bias in an essentially different way than traditional trade costs. To estimate the relevance of legal costs in displacing trade we estimate gravity equations augmented with variables capturing the extent of legal asymmetries. Evidence from inter-national trade across OECD countries and intra-national trade across French support the view that legal asymmetries act as relevant obstacles to trade.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5751.

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Date of creation: Jul 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5751

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Related research
Keywords: cross-border trade; legal costs; matching;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies

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References listed on IDEAS
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  2. Dani Rodrik, 2000. "How Far Will International Economic Integration Go?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 177-186, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Redding, Stephen & Venables, Anthony J., 2004. "Economic geography and international inequality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Feenstra, Robert C, 2002. "Border Effects and the Gravity Equation: Consistent Methods for Estimation," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 49(5), pages 491-506, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Non-Europe : the magnitude and causes of market fragmentation in the EU," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla99004a, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Chen, Natalie, 2004. "Intra-national versus international trade in the European Union: why do national borders matter?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 93-118, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Andrew K. Rose & Eric van Wincoop, 2001. "National Money as a Barrier to International Trade: The Real Case for Currency Union," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 386-390, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. John F. Helliwell, 1996. "Do National Borders Matter for Quebec's Trade?," NBER Working Papers 5215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please 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.)

  1. Emanuela Carbonara & Francesco Parisi, 2009. "Choice of law and legal evolution: rethinking the market for legal rules," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 461-492, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Anthony Briant & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2009. "Product complexity, quality of institutions and the pro-trade effect of immigrants," PSE Working Papers 2009-06, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. G. Corcos & Massimo Del Gatto & G. Mion & GIP. Ottaviano, 2007. "Productivity and Firm Selection: Intra- vs International Trade," Working Paper CRENoS 200706, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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