Who Benefits from Free Trade?
研究非洲国家经济增长时财富如何分配，发现政治权力大的小族群比大族群获益更多，这削弱了民众对民主和制度的信任，给贸易自由化政策蒙上阴影。
How is wealth distributed when the economy grows? I study this question in the context of African countries and ethnic groups. If wealth is distributed proportional to population, larger ethnic groups should benefit more when economic activity increases. Using nighttime light and individual level data to geographically locate wealth, I find the exact opposite: Smaller ethnic groups, particularly those in political power, benefit more from increased economic activity than larger ones. The results indicate that political elites in power redistribute wealth from larger ethnic groups. As a result, people’s satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions reduces, casting a shadow on the implementation of trade liberalization policies in developing countries. Instrumental variables estimating exploiting exogenous variation in trading activity confirm initial results.