The Effect of Business Cycle Fluctuations on Import Protection in Selected Developing Countries

Abstract

In recent decades, theorists proposed the role of domestic components such as interior active groups, policies and macroeconomic indicators on determination of protection policies. In the context of recent studies, this study has investigated the effect of business cycle fluctuations on import protection for selected developing countries in 1995-2011 by using dynamic panel data method. Furthermore, for sensitivity analysis, we have estimated the effect of business cycle fluctuations on protection cycle fluctuations. The results indicate that the effect of business cycle fluctuations on import protection is negative and significant. This effect has been confirmed for protection cycle fluctuations too. Based on the results, the cyclical feature of import protection is confirmed for the selected countries. On the one side, we suggest that the Governments advocate of the protection should pay more attention to the role of the endogenous factors of import protection especially the business cycles in order to increasing the success of the protection policies. On the other side, the suggestion is that the pro economic liberalization governments may liberalize more the economy in boom periods to decrease the adjustment costs.

Keywords

• import protection
• business cycle fluctuations
• dynamic panel data
• selected developing countries