Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T09:37:46.535Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Can Economic Interests Influence Support for Free Trade?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2012

Benjamin O. Fordham  and
Katja B. Kleinberg
Benjamin O. Fordham
Affiliation:
Binghamton University (SUNY). E-mail: [email protected]
Katja B. Kleinberg
Affiliation:
Binghamton University (SUNY). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Recent research on the sources of individual attitudes toward trade policy comes to very different conclusions about the role of economic self-interest. The skeptical view suggests that long-standing symbolic predispositions and sociotropic perceptions shape trade policy opinions more than one's own material well-being. We believe this conclusion is premature for two reasons. First, the practice of using one attitude to predict another raises questions about direction of causation that cannot be answered with the data at hand. This problem is most obvious when questions about the expected impact of trade are used to predict opinions about trade policy. Second, the understanding of self-interest employed in most studies of trade policy attitudes is unrealistically narrow. In reality, the close relationship between individual economic interests and the interests of the groups in which individuals are embedded creates indirect pathways through which one's position in the economy can shape individual trade policy preferences. We use the data employed by Mansfield and Mutz to support our argument that a more complete account of trade attitude formation is needed and that in such an account economic interests may yet play an important role.1

Type
Research Note
Information
International Organization , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 311 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, Andy. 2003. Why Is Trade Reform So Popular in Latin America? A Consumption-Based Theory of Trade Policy Preferences. World Politics 55 (3):423–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Andy. 2005. Who Wants to Globalize? Consumer Tastes and Labor Markets in a Theory of Trade Policy Beliefs. American Journal of Political Science 49 (4):924–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balistreri, Edward J. 1997. The Performance of the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek Model in Predicting Endogenous Policy Forces at the Individual Level. Canadian Journal of Economics 30 (1):1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaulieu, Eugene, Yatawara, Ravindra A., and Wang, Wei Guo. 2005. Who Supports Free Trade in Latin America? World Economy 28 (7):941–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston, Feldman, Stanley, and Knight, Kathleen. 1986. Judging Inflation and Unemployment: The Origins of Retrospective Evaluations. Journal of Politics 48 (3):565–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston, Feldman, Stanley, and Knight, Kathleen. 1987. The Personal and Political Underpinnings of Economic Forecasts. American Journal of Political Science 31 (3):559–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Martin S. 2006. Public Opinion Regarding Economic and Cultural Globalization: Evidence from a Cross-National Survey. Review of International Political Economy 13 (4):587–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2009. Determining Trade Policy: Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable? International Organization 63 (3):533–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hiscox, Michael J.. 2006. Learning to Love Globalization: Education and Individual Attitudes Toward International Trade. International Organization 60 (2):469–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleinberg, Katja B., and Fordham, Benjamin O.. 2010. Trade and Foreign Policy Attitudes. Journal of Conflict Resolution 54 (5):687–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis-Beck, Michael S., and Stegmaier, Mary. 2000. Economic Determinants of Electoral Outcomes. Annual Review of Political Science 3 (1):183–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 1994. Shortcuts Versus Encyclopedias: Information and Voting Behavior in California Insurance Reform Elections. American Political Science Review 88 (1):63–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur, and McCubbins, Matthew D.. 1998. The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mansfield, Edward D., and Mutz, Diana C.. 2009. Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety. International Organization 63 (3):425–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayda, Anna Maria, and Rodrik, Dani. 2005. Why Are Some People (and Countries) More Protectionist Than Others? European Economic Review 49 (6):1393–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin H. 2003. Heckscher-Ohlin Theory and Individual Attitudes Towards Globalization. Working Paper 9872. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin H., and Sinnott, Richard. 2001. The Determinants of Individual Trade Policy Preferences: International Survey Evidence. In Brookings Trade Forum, 2001, edited by Collins, Susan M. and Rodrik, Dani, 157–206. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Popkin, Samuel L. 1994. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. 2d ed.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rankin, David M. 2001. Identities, Interests, and Imports. Political Behavior 23 (4):351–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth F., and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2001a. What Determines Individual Trade-Policy Preferences? Journal of International Economics 54 (2):267–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth F., and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2001b. Globalization and the Perceptions of American Workers. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Sears, David O., and Funk, Carolyn L.. 1990. Self-Interest in Americans' Political Opinions. In Beyond Self-Interest, edited by Mansbridge, Jane J., 147–70. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sears, David O., and Funk, Carolyn L.. 1991. The Role of Self-Interest in Social and Political Attitudes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 24:1–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar