State Capture: Evidence from Tunisia

This research investigates the business interests of the ousted Tunisian Ben Ali family and how they have helped shape Tunisia’s private sector, privatization practices and the capture of international trade and industrial regulations.  The objective of the research is to quantitatively assess the relative importance of various salient mechanisms by which autocrats can reap rents. The proposed research examines three salient potential channels through which Ben Ali might have enriched his family, notably (i) privatization, (ii) international trade and (iii) investment regulation.