政治扭曲存在下的贸易自由化影响
The Impact of Trade Liberalization in the Presence of Political Distortions†
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics · 2025 · [{"name": "Sebastian Jävervall", "affiliation": ["Kiel Institute for the World Economy"]}, {"name": "Roza Khoban", "affiliation": ["University of Zurich"]}]
中文摘要
政治扭曲在许多发展中国家普遍存在，意味着重大的生产率损失。本文研究了贸易自由化对印度政治扭曲的影响。首先，利用政治更替的变异，我们识别出，政客会将资源扭曲配置以偏向政治关联企业。其次，我们表明，投入品关税的降低显著减弱了政治关联的扭曲效应，因为贸易减少了企业在获取投入品方面对政客的依赖。结果表明，贸易收益存在一个新的边际，即通过减少政治驱动的资源错配实现收益，这意味着贸易可以应对一种普遍存在的生产率损失来源。（JEL D22, D72, F13, F14, O14, O19, O24）
Abstract
Political distortions are prevalent in many developing countries, implying substantial productivity losses. This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalization on political distortions in India. First, using variation in political turnover, we identify that politicians distort resources in favor of politically connected firms. Second, we show that reduced tariffs on input goods significantly decrease the distortionary effect of political connections, as trade reduces firms' dependence on politicians for sourcing inputs. The results suggest a new margin for gains from trade through reduced politically driven misallocation, implying that trade can address a widespread source of productivity losses. (JEL D22, D72, F13, F14, O14, O19, O24)