TITLE:
Trade Openness and Democracy: The Case of Gabon
AUTHORS:
Assoumou Ondo
KEYWORDS:
Trade Openness, Democracy, Nonlinear Relation
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.8 No.2,
February
9,
2017
ABSTRACT: This article analyzes the relation
between trade openness and democracy in Gabon. Unlike traditional approaches based on the estimation
of linear gravity models,
we first estimate a nonlinear model characterizing the relation between democracy
and trade openness. We then determine an optimal threshold beyond which democracy has a positive effect on trade openness in Gabon.