Work

The Smuggling of Art, and the Art of Smuggling: Uncovering the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property and Antiques

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: We empirically analyze the illicit trade in cultural property and antiques, taking advantage of different reporting incentives between source and destination countries. We generate a measure of illicit trafficking in these goods by comparing imports recorded in United States' customs data and the (purportedly identical) trade recorded by customs authorities in exporting countries. This reporting gap is highly correlated with corruption levels of exporting countries. This correlation is stronger for artifact-rich countries. As a placebo test, we do not observe any such pattern for US imports of toys. We report similar results for four other Western country markets. (JEL F14, K42, Z11, Z13)

Source: American Economic Journal Applied Economics

DOI: 10.1257/app.1.3.82

Authors: Raymond Fisman, Shang-Jin Wei

Institutions: Boston University, National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1967784105

FWCI: 16.88

Cites: 10

Cited by: 152

Related to: 10