Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments?

40 Pages Posted: 3 Sep 1996 Last revised: 20 Aug 2022

See all articles by Dani Rodrik

Dani Rodrik

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: April 1996

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that there is a robust empirical association between the extent to which an economy is exposed to trade and the size of its government sector. This association holds for a large cross-section of countries, in low- as well as high-income samples, and is robust to the inclusion of a wide range of controls. The explanation appears to be that government consumption plays a risk-reducing role in economies exposed to a significant amount of external risk. When openness is interacted with explicit measures of external risk, such as terms-of-trade uncertainty and product concentration of exports, it is the interaction terms that enter significantly, and the openness term loses its significance (or turns negative). The paper also demonstrates that government consumption is the majority of countries.

Suggested Citation

Rodrik, Dani, Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments? (April 1996). NBER Working Paper No. w5537, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4182

Dani Rodrik (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

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