Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
11023402 | Economics Letters | 2018 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
We study how the international spread of democracy shaped the comparative advantage of countries. Using data on the “Third Wave of Democratization” between 1976 and 2000 we find that democratizing countries shifted their exports towards more contract intensive goods that require a larger portion of relationship-specific inputs. This shift is observed on the intensive margin (volumes of industry-level exports) as well as the extensive margin of trade (number of goods a country exports). Using an instrumental variable strategy based on democracy waves, alternative proxy variables and subsamples suggests that the effects of democratization on trade specialization are causal.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
Economics and Econometrics
Authors
Felix Samy Soliman, Jan Schymik,