We present new causal evidence that political connections to U.S. legislators are valuable for individual firms. We also estimate that almost all of the value generated by connections to the U.S. legislators can be attributed to their influence over and above their formal committee assignments in Congress.

Using a new unique dataset on the prices of perishable commodities traded across several markets, and associated transport costs, we investigate the extent of market integration in Ghana and test the law of one price.

Under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), rich countries grant unilateral trade preferences to developing countries. We study the EU’s withdrawal of GSP preferences from Belarus in 2007 to understand how the GSP a ects export patterns. The withdrawal caused a signi cant drop in trade for a ected products (26%-29% trade decline) and some trade reduction at the extensive margin. However, there is little evidence of a GSP e ect on total trade. This is due to the fact that the main exports of Belarus were not eligible for the GSP program.

This is the Final Report for the project Corporate Engagement in Fighting Corruption and Tax Evasion. The project, financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, includes three partners: Transparency International Latvia (Delna, host organisation), Transparency International Finland and BEROC, a research institute in Minsk, Belarus. The aim is to engage entrepreneurs in fighting corruption and tax evasion, with a focus on municipal construction procurements in Latvia, Belarus and Finland.

BEROC presents the Economic Outlook - the Second Quarter 2017.