TY  - JOUR
AU  - Spolaore,Enrico
AU  - Wacziarg,Romain
TI  - Borders and Growth
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9223
PY  - 2002
Y2  - September 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9223
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9223.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Enrico Spolaore
Department of Economics
Tufts University
Braker Hall 315
8 Upper Campus Road
Medford, MA 02155
Tel: 617/627-4068
Fax: 617/627-3917
E-Mail: enrico.spolaore@tufts.edu

Romain Wacziarg
Anderson School of Management at UCLA
C-510 Entrepreneurs Hall
110 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
Tel: 310 825 4507
E-Mail: wacziarg@ucla.edu
AB  - This paper presents a framework to understand and measure the effects of political borders on economic growth and per capita income levels. We present a model providing a theoretical foundation to estimate empirically the effects of political borders on growth.  In our model, political integration between two countries results in a positive country size effect and a negative effect through reduced openness vis-…-vis the rest of the world.  We estimate the growth effects that would have resulted from the hypothetical removal of national borders between pairs of adjacent countries. We also identify country pairs where political integration would have been mutually beneficial.
ER  -