@article{203861,
  author = {Faisal Z. Ahmed and Adeel Malik},
  title = {Crony Globalization},
  abstract = {<p>Can a partial approach to economic globalization comprise a strategy to maintain elite cohesion in nondemocracies? We investigate this question for a group of predominantly nondemocratic Muslim-majority countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. To draw causal inferences, we leverage the timing of the World Trade{\textquoteright}s Organization es- tablishment in 1995 as a plausibly exogenous (global) shock to trade liberalization to show that many Muslim-majority societies have systematically lagged behind in rela- tive terms (to non-Muslim countries) on measures of\&nbsp;<em>de jure</em>\&nbsp;globalization capturing policies associated with tariffs, hidden import barriers, investment and capital account restrictions. We attribute this {\textquotedblleft}globalization deficit{\textquotedblright} to policy choices that protect politically connected commercial interests (political cronies). We corroborate the rel- evance of political connections at the micro-level by compiling new sector-level data from Egypt and Tunisia which ties slower tariff liberalization in sectors penetrated by political cronies.</p>
},
  year = {2022},
  language = {eng},
}