Political Connections and Antidumping Investigations: Evidence from China

         
Author Name ZHANG Hongyong (Fellow, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. June 2017 17-E-092
Research Project Empirical Studies on the Chinese Market and Trade Policy
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Abstract

Do political connections affect antidumping (AD) investigations? To address this question, we use antidumping filings data combined with micro data on Chinese manufacturing firms for the period 1998-2007. The political connections of a firm are defined by whether it has state-owned capital or whether it is under the administration of central or provincial government. Estimating a probit model of AD filings at the firm level, we find that strong political connections significantly increase the likelihood of AD petitions and affirmative final dumping decisions. State-owned enterprises, firms affiliated with the central or provincial government, low productivity firms, and large firms tend to file AD investigations in China. The industry-level estimation results also confirm that industries with a greater presence of state-owned enterprises are likely to receive trade protection from the Chinese government, controlling for import penetration, year, and industry fixed effects.

Published: ZHANG, Hongyong, 2018. "Political connections and antidumping investigations: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Vol. 50, pp. 34-41
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X1830021X