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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Time Cost Of Documents To Trade, Mohammad Amin, Asif Islam Jan 2015

The Time Cost Of Documents To Trade, Mohammad Amin, Asif Islam

Mohammad Amin

The paper shows that the number of documents required to export and import tend to increase the time cost of shipments. However, this relationship is far from simplistic, varying sharply in magnitude depending on the income level and the size of the country. Specifically, the increase in the time cost of increased documentation is much larger for countries that are relatively poor and large in size. One interpretation of this finding is that the relatively rich countries that have more resources and the relatively small countries that rely more on trade invest more in building efficient documentation systems. Hence, increased …


Imports Of Intermediate Inputs And Country Size, Mohammad Amin, Asif Islam Jun 2013

Imports Of Intermediate Inputs And Country Size, Mohammad Amin, Asif Islam

Mohammad Amin

The present paper analyzes the relationship between country size and the use of imported intermediate inputs by firms in 76 developing countries. Recent evidence indicates that the use of imported inputs can have a large positive effect on productivity and growth thus motivating a better understanding of the determinants of imported inputs. Our results confirm that relative to large countries, firms in small countries are both likely to use more imported inputs and a larger share of imported inputs in their total inputs. Interestingly, adjusting for the mean level of imports of inputs and exports of goods in our sample, …


Is There More Corruption In Larger Countries? Evidence Using Firm-Level Data, Mohammad Amin Jun 2011

Is There More Corruption In Larger Countries? Evidence Using Firm-Level Data, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Existing studies show that the impact of country size on the level of corruption is sensitive to the dataset used and the sample of countries under study. The present paper contributes to the literature on country size and corruption by using newly available firm-level data on firm’s experience with corruption in 25 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Our results show that the level of corruption rises sharply with country size as measured by the total population of a country. Contrary to claims in the literature, we find no evidence that the corruption and country size relationship is stronger …


Does Country Size Matter For Tax Rates?, Mohammad Amin Jun 2011

Does Country Size Matter For Tax Rates?, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Repeated attempts at uncovering the impact of country size on various socio-economic factors have shown that country size doesn’t matter except for trade openness. The present paper takes another look at the relevance of country size. Using newly available macro as well as firm-level micro data on tax rates, the paper finds tax rates are more burdensome in the relatively larger countries. The finding is robust to a large number of controls, alternative specifications and estimation methods including the instrumental variables regression method. Further, we find some evidence suggesting that the strength of the relationship between tax rates and country …


Quality Of Tax Administration: How Relevant Is Country Size?, Mohammad Amin Jun 2011

Quality Of Tax Administration: How Relevant Is Country Size?, Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Repeated attempts at uncovering the relevance of country size for various economic factors have produced discouraging results. The present paper sheds new light on the relevance of country size using micro or firm-level data on firms’ experience with the quality of tax administration, an important but neglected element of the business climate. We find that the quality of tax administration is significantly better for small compared with large countries. Instrumental variables regression method confirms that our finding is robust to various endogeneity concerns. We also find some evidence that the country size and tax administration relationship is non-linear, much stronger …


Trade Facilitation And Country Size, Mohammad Amin, Jamal Ibrahim Haidar May 2011

Trade Facilitation And Country Size, Mohammad Amin, Jamal Ibrahim Haidar

Mohammad Amin

It is argued that compared with large countries, small countries rely more on trade and therefore they are more likely to adopt liberal trading policies. The present paper extends this idea beyond the conventional trade openness measures by analyzing the relationship between country size and the number of documents required to export and import, a measure of trade facilitation. Three important results follow. First, trade facilitation does improve as the country size becomes smaller; that is, small countries perform better than large countries in terms of trade facilitation. Second, the relationship between country size and trade facilitation is non-linear, much …