Les Effets de la Corruption sur le Commerce Extérieur de la Tunisie : Une Approche du Modèle de Gravité Statique durant la Période 1999-2012

In this paper, we tried to examine the effects of corruption on Trade in Tunisia. Several studies demonstrated the importance of strong institutions on Trade. They developed a model of import’s demand in an insecure world, where insecurity is meant as hijacking, corruption and incomplete contract enforcement. Their structural model shows that insecurity constrains trade by raising the price of trade goods. Using a gravity model, we tested the effects of corruption measured by the corruption perception indicator on bilateral trade flows measured by volume of exportation and importation value over the period 1999-2012. A panel data analysis is used to disentangle the time invariant country-specific effects and to capture the relationship between the relevant variables over time. The results show that corruption is an "institutional" barrier to trade.