Court fairness and firm level export decisions

摘要

This paper is the first micro-level study in the international trade literature to examine the causal relationship between court fairness and the firm-level export decisions (propensity and intensity). The paper uses firm-level data from South Asian countries collected and maintained by the World Bank for empirical analysis. Methodologically, the study uses IVprobit and 2SLS models to analyze the pooled cross-sectional data. I estimate various specifications to show that court fairness increases the export share as well as the likelihood that a firm becomes an exporter. Results are robust for both intensive and extensive margins of trade.