Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety

Abstract

Although it is widely acknowledged that an understanding of mass attitudes about trade is crucial to the political economy of foreign commerce, only a handful of studies have addressed this topic. These studies have focused largely on testing two models, both of which emphasize that trade preferences are shaped by how trade affects an individual's income. The factor endowments or Heckscher-Ohlin model posits that these preferences are affected primarily by a person's skills. The specific factors or Ricardo-Viner model posits that trade preferences depend on the industry in which a person works. We find little support for either of these models using two representative national surveys of Americans. The only potential exception involves the effects of education. Initial tests indicate that educational attainment and support for open trade are directly related, which is often interpreted as support for the Heckscher-Ohlin model. However, further analysis reveals that education's effects are less representative of skill than of individuals' anxieties about involvement with out-groups in their own country and beyond. Furthermore, we find strong evidence that trade attitudes are guided less by material self-interest than by perceptions of how the U.S. economy as a whole is affected by trade. Disciplines AbstractAlthough it is widely acknowledged that an understanding of mass attitudes about trade is crucial to the political economy of foreign commerce, only a handful of studies have addressed this topic+ These studies have focused largely on testing two models, both of which emphasize that trade preferences are shaped by how trade affects an individual's income+ The factor endowments or HeckscherOhlin model posits that these preferences are affected primarily by a person's skills+ The specific factors or Ricardo-Viner model posits that trade preferences depend on the industry in which a person works+ We find little support for either of these models using two representative national surveys of Americans+ The only potential exception involves the effects of education+ Initial tests indicate that educational attainment and support for open trade are directly related, which is often interpreted as support for the Heckscher-Ohlin model+ However, further analysis reveals that education's effects are less representative of skill than of individuals' anxieties about involvement with out-groups in their own country and beyond+ Furthermore, we find strong evidence that trade attitudes are guided less by material self-interest than by perceptions of how the U+S+ economy as a whole is affected by trade+The politics of international trade has been a long-standing puzzle for social scientists+ Among economists, there is widespread agreement that free trade is beneficial+ 1 Open trade and cross-national market integration help to allocate factors of production efficiently and to promote the welfare of countries and the world as

Why Don't Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self-Interest?

“…See Beaulieu 2002;Hays, Ehrlich, and Peinhardt 2005;Mayda and Rodrik 2005. 12. Mansfield and Mutz 2009;Wolfe and Mendelsohn 2005. For a review of these and other studies, see Kuo and Naoi 2015. 13.…”

“…18. Edwards 2006Guisinger 2014;Herrmann, Tetlock, and Diascro 2001;Kaltenthaler, Gelleny, and Ceccoli 2004;Kaltenthaler and Miller 2013;Lindsey and Lake 2014;Mansfield and Mutz 2009;Mayda and Rodrik 2005;O'Rourke and Sinnott 2001;Rankin 2001;Rathbun 2016. affected by trade." 19 Xiaobo Lü, Kenneth Scheve, and Matthew Slaughter add that people exhibit "inequity aversion," and therefore prefer trade policies that minimize inequality or combat poverty.…”

Nativism or Economic Threat: Attitudes Toward Immigrants During the Great Recession

“…concerns about how trade and immigration affect the nation as a whole (see Citrin et al (1997) and Mansfield and Mutz (2009) To better understand if and why the economic environment influences trade and immigration attitudes, we utilize our panel data to test a number of these arguments. In particular:…”

American Attitudes toward Free Trade Agreements

“…Taken together, my findings indicate that American attitudes toward free trade are constrained by the industrial features of states more so than by individuals' considerations of personal advantages. Mansfield and Mutz (2009) find that American attitudes toward free trade were not substantially related to party identification. My results confirm their findings.…”

“…Prior studies find that individual economic factors, such as education and income, and psychological factors, such as nationalism, party identification, and ideology, were key determinants of public attitudes toward trade policy (Scheve and Slaughter 2001;Mayda and Rodrik 2005;Kaltenthaler, Gellenery, and Ceccoli 2004;Mansfield and Mutz 2009;Mayda 2006;O'Rouke andSinnott 2001, 2006). However, individual attitudes toward social and political issues depend on where voters live (Campbell, Wong, and Citrin 2006;Key 1949;Hopkins 2010;Schissel, Wanner, and Frideres 1989).…”