Political connections and tariff evasion : evidence from Tunisia

Abstract EN

The paper benefited from KCP funding for the project “Job Creation, Structural Change, and Economic Development in MENA with Lessons from East Asia” (TF 014655, project code P127907).

Research for this paper has also been supported in part by the governments of Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom through the Multidonor Trust Fund for Trade and Development, and by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through the Strategic Research Partnership on Economic Development.

This work was also sponsored by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and has benefitted from both financial and intellectual support from the ERF.

The contents and recommendations do not necessarily reflect ERF’s views.

We would like to thank Caroline Duclos for exceptional research assistance and Rebekka Grun and Melise Jaud help obtaining access to the data.

We also benefitted from useful comments from Lotfi Ayadi, Varanya Chaubey, Caroline Freund, Bernard Hoekman, Phil Keefer, Antonio Nucifora, Beata Javorcik, Chahir Zaki, and seminar participants at the World Bank, the Economic Research Forum’s Annual Conference, and the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University.

We are very grateful to the Tunisian Institut National de la Statistique for generously hosting us for several months, helping assemble the database and providing incisive feedback.