Trade Openness and the Illegal Ivory Trade
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Economics
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
The Holland Hunter 1943 Economics Department Thesis Prize
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
This paper examines how the illegal ivory trade|including poaching, smuggling, and stockpiling|responds to increases in trade openness. When a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement promotes legal trade between an ivory-exporting country and the United States, the impact on illegal ivory is unclear. Predictions about poaching activ ity and smuggling diverge, and the option to stockpile further complicates this scenario. A difference-in-differences estimation using a panel regression with synthetic controls and unique tests to analyze shifting markets and stockpiling behavior suggest that 1) trade openness motivates increased poaching, 2) this increased supply of ivory is, at least in part, stockpiled, while 3) seizures of ivory at the US border do not change. Secondary results show that poverty does stimulate poaching and that increases in legal trade mask a growing illegal trade.