Suchergebnisse

Sub‐Saharan African countries have traditionally lagged the rest of the developing world in terms of overall trade relative to gross domestic product. But, there is growing interest among these countries to initiate trade policies and improve quality of institutions as a way to promote trade and boost foreign direct investment. This article extends the gravity model of trade to include proxies for trade reform policy and institutional quality among the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for data spanning 1984–2006. Alternative methods of estimation based on ordinary least squares, Heckman two‐step procedure, and Poisson pseudo‐maximum likelihood produce predictions that are consistent with the standard gravity model. They further highlight the evidence of restrictive trade policies and weak institutions that contribute to the failure of ECOWAS countries to boost bilateral trade. (JELF13, F15, O19, O55)

The general consensus among the copyright piracy literature is that economic incentives and enforcement are both effective strategies that complement one another in reducing the occurrence of piracy. Yet, the key factor underlying these strategies is the ability of the media industries to influence an individual's willingness to pay (WTP) for legal purchases when illegal versions exist. This article estimates the effects of factors influencing WTP for digital music downloads. Our results show that while income and risk perceptions play a dominant role in determining WTP, ethics are also important in influencing WTP. Our results are consistent with the growing consumer acceptance of fee‐based music services that can exist alongside peer‐to‐peer file sharing as well as serve as a viable substitute. (JELO34, K42, D12)

SummaryA substantial literature exists on the effects of military expenditures on economic growth, yet no study has analyzed the effects of military occupation other than in anecdotal cases. This paper uses a panel of 214 countries from 1950 to 2013 to study how economic growth is impacted by different forms of military occupation. Transformative occupations aim to establish institutions to promote stability once the occupation ends, while subdual occupations are more malevolent in their objectives. Our results show that transformative occupations produce positive growth in occupied countries after the occupation period concludes. Separating these effects into the short run and long run, we find that while countries subject to a subdual occupation experience a short‐run increase in growth at the end of the occupation, countries with transformative occupation experience long‐run increases in growth. These findings are robust to the inclusion of traditional drivers of growth. Policy implications suggest that regional conflicts that are solved using military intervention may have lasting effects on growth as long as the intentions of the occupying force are transformative in nature.