IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/erg/wpaper/1280.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Patrons or Clients? Measuring and Experimentally Evaluating Political Connections of Firms in Morocco and Jordan

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Kubinec

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

I use an original survey of firm employees in Morocco and Jordan to construct an index of political-connectedness that collapses several possible indicators of connectedness down to a single latent dimension. To do so, I employ item-response theory on a subset of questions from the survey for which I have a prior theoretical reason to believe that these factors should either be caused by or cause political-connectedness. With this index, I can better understand political-connectedness as a continuous measure that reflects the broad range of political interactions firms may have rather than as a dichotomous measure of connected versus nonconnected firms. I also employ an experimental design embedded in the survey that simulated a hypothetical interaction between the firm and a party offering political benefits in exchange for resources in order to understand if this measure of political connectedness can predict political activity across domains. I show that politically-connected firms are able to exchange political loyalty to regimes for lighter regulatory burdens and access to protected markets that insulate them from competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Kubinec, 2018. "Patrons or Clients? Measuring and Experimentally Evaluating Political Connections of Firms in Morocco and Jordan," Working Papers 1280, Economic Research Forum, revised 26 Dec 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:1280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1280.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://bit.ly/2QQIYb4
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Polona Domadenik & Janez Prašnikar & Jan Svejnar, 2016. "Political Connectedness, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 411-428, December.
    2. Claessens, Stijn & Feijen, Erik & Laeven, Luc, 2008. "Political connections and preferential access to finance: The role of campaign contributions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 554-580, June.
    3. Bob Rijkers & Leila Baghdadi & Gael Raballand, 2017. "Political Connections and Tariff Evasion Evidence from Tunisia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(2), pages 459-482.
    4. Leonard Wantchekon, 2003. "Clientelism and voting behavior: Evidence from a field experiment in benin," Natural Field Experiments 00339, The Field Experiments Website.
    5. Roberta Gatti & Diego F. Angel-Urdinola & Joana Silva & Andras Bodor, 2014. "Striving for Better Jobs : The Challenge of Informality in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 19905, December.
    6. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Youssouf Kiendrebeogo & Daniel Lederman, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, April 2018," World Bank Publications - Reports 29649, The World Bank Group.
    7. Rijkers, Bob & Freund, Caroline & Nucifora, Antonio, 2017. "All in the family: State capture in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 41-59.
    8. Ge, Jianhua & Stanley, Laura J. & Eddleston, Kimberly & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2017. "Institutional deterioration and entrepreneurial investment: The role of political connections," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 405-419.
    9. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Amani Abou Harb & Omer M. Karasapan & Hideki Matsunaga & Ha Nguyen & Francois de Soyres, 2018. "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, October 2018 [Bulletin d'information economique de la region MENA]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 30436, December.
    10. Hainmueller, Jens & Hopkins, Daniel J. & Yamamoto, Teppei, 2014. "Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis: Understanding Multidimensional Choices via Stated Preference Experiments," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 1-30, January.
    11. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Youssouf Kiendrebeogo & Daniel Lederman, 2018. "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, April 2018," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 29649, December.
    12. Blau, Benjamin M. & Brough, Tyler J. & Thomas, Diana W., 2013. "Corporate lobbying, political connections, and the bailout of banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3007-3017.
    13. Diwan,Ishac & Keefer,Philip E. & Schiffbauer,Marc Tobias, 2015. "Pyramid capitalism : political connections, regulation, and firm productivity in Egypt," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7354, The World Bank.
    14. Desai, Raj M. & Olofsgård, Anders, 2011. "The Costs of Political Influence: Firm-Level Evidence From Developing Countries," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 6(2), pages 137-178, September.
    15. Shantayanan Devarajan & Lili Mottaghi, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, April 2017," World Bank Publications - Reports 26305, The World Bank Group.
    16. Markus,Stanislav, 2015. "Property, Predation, and Protection," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107088344.
    17. Jeffrey Owen Herzog & Kamal A. Munir & Paul Kattuman, 2013. "The King and I: monarchies and the performance of business groups," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(1), pages 171-185.
    18. North,Douglass C. & Wallis,John Joseph & Weingast,Barry R., 2013. "Violence and Social Orders," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107646995.
    19. Scott, James C., 1972. "Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 91-113, March.
    20. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Amani Abou Harb & Omer M. Karasapan & Hideki Matsunaga & Ha Nguyen & Francois de Soyres, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, October 2018 [Bulletin d'information economique de la region MENA]," World Bank Publications - Reports 30436, The World Bank Group.
    21. Markus Taussig, 2009. "Where Is Credit Due? Legal Institutions, Connections, and the Efficiency of Bank Lending in Vietnam," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 535-578, October.
    22. Raymond Fisman, 2001. "Estimating the Value of Political Connections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1095-1102, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. El-Haddad, Amirah, 2020. "Redefining the social contract in the wake of the Arab Spring: The experiences of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francis,David C. & Kubinec ,Robert, 2022. "Beyond Political Connections : A Measurement Model Approach to Estimating Firm-levelPolitical Influence in 41 Economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10119, The World Bank.
    2. Hallward-Driemeier,Mary C. & Kochanova,Anna & Rijkers,Bob, 2020. "Does Democratization Promote Competition? : Indonesian Manufacturing Pre and Post Suharto," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9112, The World Bank.
    3. Kubinec, Robert, 2018. "Politically-Connected Firms and the Military-Clientelist Complex in North Africa," SocArXiv mrfcu, Center for Open Science.
    4. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Podgórski, Błażej & Winkler-Drews, Tadeusz, 2020. "Do political connections shield from negative shocks? Evidence from rating changes in advanced emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Soumyajit Mazumder, 2016. "Can I stay a BIT longer? The effect of bilateral investment treaties on political survival," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 477-521, December.
    6. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Mielcarz, Paweł, 2014. "Political connections and operational performance of non-financial firms: New evidence from Poland," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 109-135.
    7. Nan Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Huiying Li & Xiao Wang, 2022. "The organizational relationship–based political connection and debt financing: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 69-105, January.
    8. Maurizio Bussolo & Simon Commander & Stavros Poupakis, 2023. "Political connections and firms: network dimensions," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 256-280.
    9. Bob Rijkers & Leila Baghdadi & Gael Raballand, 2017. "Political Connections and Tariff Evasion Evidence from Tunisia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(2), pages 459-482.
    10. Md. Jahir Uddin Palas & Fernando Moreira, 2022. "The impact of government assistance on banks' efficiency," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 1731-1748, April.
    11. Yu Ri KIM & TODO Yasuyuki, 2019. "Are Politically Connected Firms More Likely to Export?," Discussion papers 19049, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    12. Wei-Fong Pan, 2023. "Does a firm’s lobbying activity respond to its peers’ lobbying activity?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 194(3), pages 297-324, March.
    13. Ding, Haoyuan & Fan, Haichao & Lin, Shu, 2018. "Connect to trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 50-62.
    14. Rihem Braham & Christian Peretti & Lotfi Belkacem, 2022. "On the Measurement and Extent of Banks’ Political Connection in the Middle East and North Africa Region," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(4), pages 606-645, December.
    15. Park, SeHyun, 2023. "Profitability of politically corrupt firms: Evidence from Romania," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Ozlem Akin & Nicholas S. Coleman & Christian Fons-Rosen & José-Luis Peydró, 2016. "Political Connections: Evidence From Insider Trading Around TARP," Working Papers 935, Barcelona School of Economics.
    17. Rihem Braham & Christian Peretti & Lotfi Belkacem, 2019. "Do political connections affect bank leverage? Evidence from some Middle Eastern and North African countries," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(4), pages 989-1006, December.
    18. Ayesha Shoukat, 2020. "Political Connection and Enterprise Development (A Case Study of Nishat Business Group)," Journal of Contemporary Research in Social Sciences, Michael Laurence, vol. 2(1), pages 8-25.
    19. Hasan, Iftekhar & Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kowalewski, Oskar & Kozlowski, Lukasz, 2013. "Politically Connected Firms in Poland and Their Access to Bank Financing," Working Papers 13-37, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    20. Ruckteschler, Christian & Malik, Adeel & Eibl, Ferdinand, 2022. "Politics of trade protection in an autocracy: Evidence from an EU tariff liberalization in Morocco," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:1280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sherine Ghoneim (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erfaceg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.