This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Democracies, politics and arms supply: A bilateral trade equation

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Margherita Comola
Abstract

Politics can influence arms trade through several channels, and history indicates that it actually does: throughout the XXth century arms have not only been tradable goods, but also foreign policy instruments. This paper focuses on countries supplying major conventional weapons (MCW), and investigates whether the political orientation of the government in power makes any difference to arms export policy. In particular, I concentrate on democratic exporters to check how the government's political orientation, right-wing or left-wing, has an impact on the quantity of arms supplied to third countries. For this purpose, a bilateral trade equation is estimated for the years 1975-2004 by applying a panel TOBIT framework. Results suggest that the exporter's chief executive being right-wing has a positive and significant impact on MCW exports. This may reflect a general right-wing tendency to lower trade barriers, with its consequences on the deregularization of heavy industry exports, or a higher economic support towards the armament sector as a relevant part of national industry.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.pse.ens.fr/document/wp200872.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by PSE (Ecole normale supérieure) in its series PSE Working Papers with number 2008-72.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pse:psecon:2008-72

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 48 boulevard Jourdan - 75014 Paris
Phone: 01 43 13 63 00
Fax: 01 43 13 63 10
Email:
Web page: http://www.pse.ens.fr/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

References listed on IDEAS
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. Elias Papaioannou & Gregorios Siourounis, 2008. "Democratization and Growth," Working Papers 00027, University of Peloponnese, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Christos Kollias & Kleanthis Sirakoulis, 2002. "Arms Racing and the Costs of Arms Imports: A Stochastic Model," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 137-143, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. 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!]
    Other versions:
  4. Levine, Paul & Smith, Ron, 1995. "The Arms Trade and Arms Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(429), pages 471-84, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H, 1985. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade: Some Microeconomic Foundations and Empirical Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(3), pages 474-81, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Egger, Peter, 2000. "A note on the proper econometric specification of the gravity equation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 25-31, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Jeffrey A. Frankel & David Romer, 1999. "Does Trade Cause Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 379-399, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Levine, Paul & Smith, Ron, 1997. "The arms trade and the stability of regional arms races," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 631-654. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. J Paul Dunne & Maria Garcia Alonso & Paul Levine & Ron Smith, 2003. "Concentration in the International Arms Industry¤," Discussion Papers 0301, University of the West of England, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You too can volunteer with RePEc.

This page was last updated on 2009-12-18.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.