Beschreibung:
Similar to tariffs, non-tariff measures may induce trade fraud when they are restrictive. This paper examines whether discrepancies observed in the official trade statistics of importing and exporting countries are partly due to trade fraud from evading border non-tariff measures. To capture the restrictiveness of non-tariff measures, the paper estimates the ad valorem equivalent with importer-exporter-product variations. It presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence showing that discrepancies increase with ad valorem equivalents, consistent with the trade fraud due to traders intentionally mis-declaring countries of origin or misclassifying products in order to evade border non-tariff measures. The results are driven by homogeneous products and the trade between developed and developing countries