Can Bribes Buy Protection against International Competition?

This paper explores the association between corruption and trade policy. A theoretical framework first explores the effects of corruption on non-tariff barriers at the political and bureaucratic level. Relying on a panel of indices of corruption and non-tariff barriers from 1995, 2000 and 2005, estimates show that corruption tends to lead to higher non-tariff barriers. Further estimates are consistent with the theoretical considerations in suggesting that the effectiveness of corruption in buying barriers varies with the degree of press freedom