IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/poleco/v77y2023ics0176268022000738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corruption and assortative matching of partners in international trade

Author

Listed:
  • Cooray, Arusha
  • Jha, Chandan Kumar
  • Panda, Bibhudutta

Abstract

Although the effects of corruption on bilateral trade are well-documented, its impact on the composition of trading partners remains unexplored. In this paper, we argue that corruption in a country imposes asymmetric costs on its trading partners depending on their characteristics. Consequently, as the level of corruption in a country changes, its trade flows from some of its trading partners change more than others, depending on their characteristics, changing the composition of its trading partners. We focus on two characteristics of trading partners: (1) the level of corruption and (2) membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Convention). Using the gravity model, we find evidence of a negative assortative matching in international trade with respect to corruption. We find that corruption in a country is negatively associated with trade flows from high-corrupt countries and is positively associated with trade volume from signatories of the OECD convention. Our results suggest that future studies on this topic should consider controlling for institutional dissimilarities between the trading partners as it has implications for bilateral trade costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Cooray, Arusha & Jha, Chandan Kumar & Panda, Bibhudutta, 2023. "Corruption and assortative matching of partners in international trade," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:77:y:2023:i:c:s0176268022000738
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102273
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268022000738
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102273?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rubinstein, Ariel, 1982. "Perfect Equilibrium in a Bargaining Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 97-109, January.
    2. Gründler, Klaus & Potrafke, Niklas, 2019. "Corruption and economic growth: New empirical evidence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2017. "Does social media reduce corruption?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-71.
    4. Toke S. Aidt, 2009. "Corruption, institutions, and economic development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 271-291, Summer.
    5. Aidt, Toke & Dutta, Jayasri & Sena, Vania, 2008. "Governance regimes, corruption and growth: Theory and evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 195-220, June.
    6. Daniel Lederman & Norman V. Loayza & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "Accountability And Corruption: Political Institutions Matter," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-35, March.
    7. Marcus Hagedorn & Tzuo Hann Law & Iourii Manovskii, 2017. "Identifying Equilibrium Models of Labor Market Sorting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 29-65, January.
    8. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    9. Henri L. F. De Groot & Gert‐Jan Linders & Piet Rietveld & Uma Subramanian, 2004. "The Institutional Determinants of Bilateral Trade Patterns," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 103-123, February.
    10. Yoichi Sugita & Kensuke Teshima & Enrique Seira, 2023. "Assortative Matching of Exporters and Importers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1544-1561, November.
    11. Veronica Rappoport & Catherine Thomas & Bernard Salanie & Maria Guadalupe, 2013. "The Perfect Match: Assortative Matching in International Acquisitions," 2013 Meeting Papers 1000, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Jacob Wanjala Musila & Simon Pierre Sigué, 2010. "Corruption and International Trade: An Empirical Investigation of African Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 129-146, January.
    13. Treisman, Daniel, 2000. "The causes of corruption: a cross-national study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 399-457, June.
    14. Arusha Cooray & Friedrich Schneider, 2018. "Does corruption throw sand into or grease the wheels of financial sector development?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 111-133, October.
    15. Pushan Dutt & Daniel Traca, 2010. "Corruption and Bilateral Trade Flows: Extortion or Evasion?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 843-860, November.
    16. Egger, Peter & Larch, Mario, 2008. "Interdependent preferential trade agreement memberships: An empirical analysis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 384-399, December.
    17. Toke S. Aidt & Martin Gassebner, 2010. "Do Autocratic States Trade Less?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 24(1), pages 38-76, January.
    18. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2006. "Who cares about corruption?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 807-822, November.
    19. Susanna Thede & Nils-Åke Gustafson, 2012. "The Multifaceted Impact of Corruption on International Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 651-666, May.
    20. 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.
    21. Edgardo Campos, J. & Lien, Donald & Pradhan, Sanjay, 1999. "The Impact of Corruption on Investment: Predictability Matters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1059-1067, June.
    22. Raymond Fisman & Shang-Jin Wei, 2004. "Tax Rates and Tax Evasion: Evidence from "Missing Imports" in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 471-500, April.
    23. Nye, J. S., 1967. "Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 417-427, June.
    24. de Jong, Eelke & Bogmans, Christian, 2011. "Does corruption discourage international trade?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 385-398, June.
    25. Shang-Jin Wei, 2000. "How Taxing is Corruption on International Investors?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 1-11, February.
    26. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September.
    27. 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.
    28. 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 474-481, August.
    29. Subhayu Bandyopadhyay & Suryadipta Roy, 2007. "Corruption and trade protection: evidence from panel data," Working Papers 2007-022, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    30. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H, 1989. "The Generalized Gravity Equation, Monopolistic Competition, and the Factor-Proportions Theory in International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 143-153, February.
    31. Jan Eeckhout & Philipp Kircher, 2018. "Assortative Matching With Large Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(1), pages 85-132, January.
    32. Michel Fouquin & Jules Hugot, 2016. "Two Centuries of Bilateral Trade and Gravity data: 1827-2014," Vniversitas Económica 15129, Universidad Javeriana - Bogotá.
    33. Mohsin Habib & Leon Zurawicki, 2002. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 291-307, June.
    34. James E. Anderson & Douglas Marcouiller, 2002. "Insecurity And The Pattern Of Trade: An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 342-352, May.
    35. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, 2008. "The effectiveness of laws against bribery abroad," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 634-651, June.
    36. Ramesh C. Paudel & Arusha Cooray, 2018. "Export performance of developing countries: Does landlockedness matter?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 36-62, August.
    37. Hainmueller, Jens & Mummolo, Jonathan & Xu, Yiqing, 2019. "How Much Should We Trust Estimates from Multiplicative Interaction Models? Simple Tools to Improve Empirical Practice," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(2), pages 163-192, April.
    38. Guttman, Joel M., 2008. "Assortative matching, adverse selection, and group lending," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 51-56, August.
    39. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    40. Gatti, Roberta, 1999. "Corruption and trade tariffs, or a case for uniform tariffs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2216, The World Bank.
    41. Anderson, James E, 1979. "A Theoretical Foundation for the Gravity Equation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 106-116, March.
    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. Dirk-Jan Koch, 2022. "Do transactions to tax havens and corruption attract officially supported export credit? Evidence from three European export credit agencies," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(6), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Panda, Bibhudutta & Sahu, Santosh Kumar, 2022. "Institutions and conflict," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Kodila-Tedika, Oasis & Khalifa, Sherif, 2021. "Do Leader’s Visits Increase Trade Flows?," MPRA Paper 105577, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Othmani, Abdelhafidh & Slimani, Slah & Bakari, Sayef, 2015. "Les Effets de la Corruption sur le Commerce Extérieur de la Tunisie : Une Approche du Modèle de Gravité Statique durant la Période 1999-2012," MPRA Paper 80894, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Othmani, Abdelhafidh & Slimani, Slah & Bakari, Sayef, 2015. "Les Effets de la Concurrence sur le Commerce Extérieur de la Tunisie : Une Approche du Modèle de Gravité Statique durant la Période 1999-2012 [The Effects of Competition on Foreign Trade in Tunisia," MPRA Paper 80885, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    4. Salvador Gil-Pareja & Rafael Llorca-Vivero & José Antonio Martínez-Serrano, 2017. "Corruption and International Trade: A Comprehensive Analysis with Gravity," Working Papers 1705, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    5. Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin & Giray Gozgor & Chi Keung Marco Lau, 2017. "Institutions and gravity model: the role of political economy and corporate governance," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(3), pages 421-436, December.
    6. Esteve-Pérez Silviano & Gil-Pareja Salvador & Paniagua Jordi & Llorca-Vivero Rafael, 2021. "Corruption and International Trade: A Re-assessment with Intra-National Flows," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 187-198, January.
    7. João Martins & Linda Veiga & Bruno Fernandes, 2021. "Does electronic government deter corruption? Evidence from across the world," NIPE Working Papers 02/2021, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    8. Yoto V. Yotov, 2022. "On the role of domestic trade flows for estimating the gravity model of trade," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 526-540, July.
    9. Harouna Sedgo & Luc Désiré Omgba, 2023. "Corruption and distortion of public expenditures: evidence from Africa," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(2), pages 419-452, April.
    10. Jain, Pankaj K. & Kuvvet, Emre & Pagano, Michael S., 2017. "Corruption’s impact on foreign portfolio investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 23-35.
    11. de Jong, Eelke & Bogmans, Christian, 2011. "Does corruption discourage international trade?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 385-398, June.
    12. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Schneider, Friedrich, 2017. "How Does Corruption Affect Public Debt? An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 115-127.
    13. Yaron Zelekha & Eyal Sharabi, 2012. "Corruption, institutions and trade," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 169-192, June.
    14. repec:pdn:wpaper:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Suadat Hussain Wani & Effat Yasmin, 2023. "India’s trade with South and Central Asia: an application of institution-based augmented gravity model," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    16. repec:pdn:wpaper:70 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & García-Muiña, Fernando E., 2021. "Digitalization level, corruptive practices, and location choice in the hotel industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 176-185.
    18. João Martins & Linda Veiga & Bruno Fernandes, 2023. "Are electronic government innovations helpful to deter corruption? Evidence from across the world," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 1177-1203, November.
    19. Yoto V. Yotov, 2021. "The Variation of Gravity within Countries (or 15 Reasons Why Gravity Should Be Estimated with Domestic Trade Flows)," CESifo Working Paper Series 9057, CESifo.
    20. Tanya GANDHI & Shahid AHMED, 2020. "Testifying the role of regulatory environment in trade facilitation: Impact on intra-regional trade in South-Asia," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(4(625), W), pages 195-216, Winter.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corruption; International trade; International bribery; OECD Convention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General

    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:eee:poleco:v:77:y:2023:i:c:s0176268022000738. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505544 .

    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.