The costs of bureaucracy and corruption at customs: Evidence from the computerization of imports in Colombia
中文摘要
我们评估了哥伦比亚进口交易计算机化对进口量、港口效率和制造业企业绩效的影响。交错实施使我们能够识别改革的因果效应。我们发现，与未改革的港口相比，计算机化显著增加了改革港口的申报进口，同时税收收入也大幅增长。我们的结果表明，多种因素的结合支撑了申报进口的增加：企业实际进口的增长、进口低报的减少，以及进口从未改革港口转向改革港口的重新定向，这揭示了进口商对后者的偏好。腐败减少的其他迹象包括清关时间可预测性的提高，以及当局起诉的海关相关腐败案件数量的减少。重要的是，进口增加带来了更好的企业绩效：在与处理组海关相关的城市，进口企业的销售额增长了5.2%，非进口企业的销售额则下降了3.9%。这些效应随时间推移而增强，并集中于中小型企业，这些企业在计算机化之前似乎受非关税壁垒影响最大。
Abstract
We assess the effects of the computerization of import transactions in Colombia on import volume, port efficiency and the performance of manufacturing firms. Staggered implementation allows us to identify the causal effects of the reform. We find that computerization triggered a significant increase in reported imports in reformed ports compared to nonreformed ones, along with a sizeable increase in tax collection. Our results indicate that a combination of factors underpin the increase in declared imports: an actual increase in firms’ imports, a reduction in import underreporting and a redirection of imports from nonreformed to reformed ports that reveals importers' preference for the latter. Other signs of reduced corruption include increased predictability of clearance times and a reduction in the number of customs-related corruption cases prosecuted by the authorities. Importantly, increased imports lead to better firm performance: in municipalities associated with treated customs, sales of manufacturing firms increased by 5.2% for importers and shrunk by 3.9% for nonimporters. These effects increase over time and are concentrated in small- to medium-sized firms, which appear to have been the most affected by the nontariff barriers before computerization.