Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:31:43.813Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2017

Sungmin Rho  and
Michael Tomz
Get access

Abstract

The dominant approach to the study of international political economy assumes that the policy preferences of individuals and groups reflect economic self-interest. Recent research has called this assumption into question by suggesting that voters do not have economically self-interested preferences about trade policy. We investigate one potential explanation for this puzzling finding: economic ignorance. We show that most voters do not understand the economic consequences of protectionism. We then use experiments to study how voters would respond if they had more information about how trade barriers affect the distribution of income. We find that distributional cues generate two opposing effects: they make people more likely to express self-serving policy preferences, but they also make people more sensitive to the interests of others. In our study both reactions were evident, but selfish responses outweighed altruistic ones. Thus, if people knew more about the distributional effects of trade, the correlation between personal interests and policy preferences would tighten. By showing how the explanatory power of economic self-interest depends on beliefs about causality, this research provides a foundation for more realistic, behaviorally informed theories of international political economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 71 , Supplement S1 , April 2017 , pp. S85 - S108
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2017 

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

Ardanaz, Martin, Murillo, M. Victoria, and Pinto, Pablo M.. 2013. Sensitivity to Issue Framing on Trade Policy Preferences: Evidence from a Survey Experiment. International Organization 67 (2):411–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Michael A. 2001. Quiet Influence: The Representation of Diffuse Interests on Postwar Trade Policy. Legislative Studies Quarterly 26 (1):45–80.Google Scholar
Bailey, Michael A. 2003. The Politics of the Difficult: Congress, Public Opinion, and Early Cold War Aid and Trade Policies. Legislative Studies Quarterly 28 (2):147–77.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 1991. Constituency Opinion and Congressional Policy Making: The Reagan Defense Buildup. American Political Science Review 85 (2):457–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, Matthew A., and Potter, Philip B.K.. 2015. War and Democratic Constraint: How the Public Influences Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bayram, A. Burcu. 2017. Due Deference: Cosmopolitan Social Identity and the Psychology of Legal Obligation in International Politics. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement, International Organization 71 (S1):S137–S163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bearce, David H., and Tuxhorn, Kim-Lee. 2017. When Are Monetary Policy Preferences Egocentric? Evidence from American Surveys and an Experiment. American Journal of Political Science 61 (1):178–93.Google Scholar
Beaulieu, Eugene. 2002. Factor or Industry Cleavages in Trade Policy? An Empirical Analysis of the Stolper–Samuelson Theorem. Economics and Politics 14 (2):99–131.Google Scholar
Berinsky, Adam J., Huber, Gregory A., and Lenz, Gabriel. 2012. Evaluating Online Labor Markets for Experimental Research: Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk. Political Analysis 20 (3):351–68.Google Scholar
Blonigen, Bruce A. 2011. Revisiting the Evidence on Trade Policy Preferences. Journal of International Economics 85 (1):129–35.Google Scholar
Buhrmester, Michael, Kwang, Tracy, and Gosling, Samuel D.. 2011. Amazon's Mechanical Turk: A New Source of Inexpensive, Yet High-Quality, Data? Perspectives on Psychological Science 6 (1):3–5.Google Scholar
Chong, Dennis, Citrin, Jack, and Conley, Patricia. 2001. When Self-Interest Matters. Political Psychology 22 (3):541–70.Google Scholar
Chwieroth, Jeffrey M., and Sinclair, Timothy J.. 2013. How You Stand Depends on How We See: International Capital Mobility as a Social Fact. Review of International Political Economy 20 (3):457–85.Google Scholar
Citrin, Jack, and Green, Donald P.. 1990. The Self-Interest Motive in American Public Opinion. In Research in Micropolitics 3, edited by Long, Samuel, 1–28. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Benjamin J. 2009. Striking a Nerve. Review of International Political Economy 16 (1):136–43.Google Scholar
Curtis, K. Amber, Jupille, Joseph, and Leblang, David. 2014. Iceland on the Rocks: The Mass Political Economy of Sovereign Debt Resettlement. International Organization 68 (3):721–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W., and McNamara, Kathleen R.. 2013. International Political Economy, Global Financial Orders and the 2008 Financial Crisis. Perspectives on Politics 11 (1):155–66.Google 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.Google Scholar
Fehr, Ernst, and Fischbacher, Urs. 2003. The Nature of Human Altruism. Nature 425:785–91.Google Scholar
Fehr, Ernst, and Schmidt, Klaus M.. 2003. Theories of Fairness and Reciprocity: Evidence and Economic Applications. In Advances in Economics and Econometrics, vol. 1, edited by Dewatripont, Mathias, Hansen, Lars Peter, and Turnovsky, Stephen J., 208–57. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehr, Ernst, and Schmidt, Klaus M.. 2006. The Economics of Fairness, Reciprocity and Altruism—Experimental Evidence and New Theories. In Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, vol. 1, edited by Kolm, Serge-Christophe and Ythier, Jean Mercier, 615–91. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Fordham, Benjamin O., and Kleinberg, Katja B.. 2012. How Can Economic Interests Affect Support for Free Trade? International Organization 66 (2):311–28.Google Scholar
Fowler, James H., and Kam, Cindy D.. 2007. Beyond the Self: Social Identity, Altruism, and Political Participation. Journal of Politics 69 (3):813–27.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Judith, and Keohane, Robert O., eds. 1993. Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Grossman, Gene M., and Helpman, Elhanan. 1994. Protection for Sale. American Economic Review 84 (4):833–50.Google Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2009. Determining Trade Policy: Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable? International Organization 63 (3):533–57.Google Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2014. Racial Diversity and Redistribution: Explaining (White) Americans’ Continued Support for Trade Protection. Working Paper, University of Notre Dame.Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie M., Haggard, Stephan, Lake, David A., and Victor, David G.. 2017. The Behavioral Revolution in the Study of International Relations. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement, International Organization 71 (S1):S1–S31Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie M., LeVeck, Brad L., Victor, David G., and Fowler, James H.. 2014. Decision Makers’ Preferences for International Legal Cooperation. International Organization 68 (4):845–76.Google 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.Google Scholar
Hartley, Thomas, and Russett, Bruce. 1992. Public Opinion and the Common Defense: Who Governs Military Spending in the United States? American Political Science Review 86 (4):905–15.Google Scholar
Hays, Jude C., Ehrlich, Sean D., and Peinhardt, Clint. 2005. Government Spending and Public Support for Trade in the OECD: An Empirical Test of the Embedded Liberalism Thesis. International Organization 59 (2):473–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermann, Richard K. 2017. How Attachments to the Nation Shape Beliefs About the World: A Theory of Motivated Reasoning. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement, International Organization 71 (S1):S61–S84Google Scholar
Herrmann, Richard K., Tetlock, Philip E., and Diascro, Matthew N.. 2001. How Americans Think about Trade: Reconciling Conflicts Among Money, Power, and Principles. International Studies Quarterly 45 (2):191–218.Google Scholar
Hicks, Raymond, Milner, Helen V., and Tingley, Dustin. 2014. Trade Policy, Economic Interests, and Party Politics in a Developing Country: The Political Economy of CAFTA–DR. International Studies Quarterly 58 (1):106–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiscox, Michael J. 2002. International Trade and Political Conflict: Commerce, Coalitions, and Mobility. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hiscox, Michael J. 2006. Through a Glass and Darkly: Attitudes Toward International Trade and the Curious Effects of Issue Framing. International Organization 60 (3):755–80.Google Scholar
Holsti, Ole R. 1996. Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Huff, Connor, and Tingley, Dustin. 2015. Who Are These People? Evaluating the Demographic Characteristics and Political Preferences of MTurk Survey Respondents. Research and Politics 2 (3):1–12.Google Scholar
Kaltenthaler, Karl, Gelleny, Ronald D., and Ceccoli, Stephen J.. 2004. Explaining Citizen Support for Trade Liberalization. International Studies Quarterly 48 (4):829–51.Google Scholar
Kaltenthaler, Karl, and Miller, William J.. 2013. Social Psychology and Public Support for Trade Liberalization. International Studies Quarterly 57 (4):784–90.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, Peter J., and Nelson, Stephen C.. 2013. Reading the Right Signals and Reading the Signals Right: IPE and the Financial Crisis of 2008. Review of International Political Economy 20 (5):1101–31.Google Scholar
Kertzer, Joshua D. 2017. Resolve, Time, and Risk. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement. International Organization 71 (S1):S109–S136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuo, Jason, and Naoi, Megumi. 2015. Individual Preferences. In Oxford Handbook of the Political Economy of International Trade, edited by Martin, Lisa L., 99–118. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lake, David A. 2009a. Open Economy Politics: A Critical Review. Review of International Organizations 4:219–44.Google Scholar
Lake, David A. 2009b. TRIPs Across the Atlantic: Theory and Epistemology in IPE. Review of International Political Economy 16 (1):47–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsey, David, and Lake, David A.. 2014. The Moral Foundations of Individual-Level Foreign Policy Preferences. Working Paper, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Lü, Xiaobo, Scheve, Kenneth, and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2012. Inequity Aversion and the International Distribution of Trade Protection. American Journal of Political Science 56 (3):638–54.Google Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 1994. Shortcuts Versus Encyclopedias: Information and Voting Behavior in California Insurance Reform Elections. American Political Science Review 88 (1):63–76.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.Google Scholar
Mansfield, Edward D., Mutz, Diana C., and Brackbill, Devon. 2014. Effects of the Great Recession on American Attitudes Toward Trade. Working Paper, University of Pennsylvania.Google 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.Google Scholar
Mayer, Wolfgang. 1984. Endogenous Tariff Formation. American Economic Review 74 (5):970–85.Google Scholar
McNamara, Kathleen R. 2009. Of Intellectual Monocultures and the Study of IPE. Review of International Political Economy 16 (1):72–84.Google Scholar
Medrano, Juan Díez, and Braun, Michael. 2012. Uninformed Citizens and Support for Free Trade. Review of International Political Economy 19 (3):448–76.Google Scholar
Melitz, Marc J. 2003. The Impact of Trade on Intra-industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity. Econometrica 71 (6):1695–725.Google Scholar
Milner, Helen V., with Kubota., Keiko 2005. Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries. International Organization 59 (1):107–43.Google Scholar
Milner, Helen V., and Tingley, Dustin. 2015. Sailing the Water's Edge: The Domestic Politics of American Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Naoi, Megumi, and Kume, Ikuo. 2011. Explaining Mass Support for Agricultural Protectionism: Evidence from a Survey Experiment During the Global Recession. International Organization 65 (4):771–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naoi, Megumi, and Kume, Ikuo. 2015. Workers or Consumers? A Survey Experiment on the Duality of Citizens’ Interests in the Politics of Trade. Comparative Political Studies 48 (10):1293–317.Google Scholar
Oatley, Thomas. 2011. The Reductionist Gamble: Open Economy Politics in the Global Economy. International Organization 65 (2):311–41.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin H., and Sinnott, Richard. 2001. The Determinants of Individual Trade Policy Preferences: International Survey Evidence. In Brookings Trade Forum, edited by Collins, Susan M. and Rodrik, Dani, 157–206. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., and Shapiro, Robert Y.. 1983. Effects of Public Opinion on Policy. American Political Science Review 77 (1):175–90.Google Scholar
Center, Pew Research. 2004. Pew Internet and American Life Project Poll: Selective Exposure Survey, 14 June–3 July. Accessed through the Roper iPoll database at <https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/ipoll-database/>..>Google Scholar
Piff, Paul K., Kraus, Michael W., Côté, Stéphane, Cheng, Bonnie Hayden, and Keltner, Dacher. 2010. Having Less, Giving More: The Influence of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99 (5):771–84.Google Scholar
Popkin, Samuel L. 1994. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Prather, Lauren. 2015. Material Interests and Foreign Aid Support in Donor Countries. Working Paper, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Rankin, David M. 2001. Identities, Interests, and Imports. Political Behavior 23 (4):351–76.Google Scholar
Rathbun, Brian. 2016. Wedges and Widgets: Liberalism, Libertarianism, and the Trade Attitudes of the American Mass Public and Elites. Foreign Policy Analysis 12 (1):85–108.Google Scholar
Rathbun, Brian C., Kertzer, Joshua D., and Paradis, Mark. 2017. Homo Diplomaticus: Mixed-Method Evidence of Variation in Strategic Rationality. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement. International Organization 71 (S1):S33–S59.Google Scholar
Renshon, Jonathan, Lee, Julia J., and Tingley, Dustin. 2017. Emotions and the Micro-Foundations of Commitment Problems. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement. International Organization 71 (S1):S189–S217.Google Scholar
Rho, Sungmin, and Tomz, Michael. 2015. Industry, Self-Interest, and Individual Preferences over Trade Policy. Working paper, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Sabet, Shahrzad. 2014. Feelings First: Non-Material Factors as Moderators of Self-Interest Effects on Trade Preferences. Working paper, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Saunders, Elizabeth N. 2017. No Substitute for Experience: Presidents, Advisers, and Information in Group Decision Making. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement, International Organization 71 (S1):S219–S247.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth F., and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2001a. Globalization and the Perceptions of American Workers. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth F., and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2001b. What Determines Individual Trade-Policy Preferences? Journal of International Economics 54 (2):267–92.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):1–91.Google Scholar
Tingley, Dustin. 2017. Rising Power on the Mind. In The Behavioral Revolution and International Relations, supplement. International Organization 71 (S1):S165–S188.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael. 2004. Interests, Information, and the Domestic Politics of International Agreements. Working Paper, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Wlezien, Christopher. 1996. Dynamics of Representation: The Case of US Spending on Defense. British Journal of Political Science 26 (1):81–104.Google Scholar
Wolfe, Robert, and Mendelsohn, Matthew. 2005. Values and Interests in Attitudes Toward Trade and Globalization: The Continuing Compromise of Embedded Liberalism. Canadian Journal of Political Science 38 (1):45–68.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Rho and Tomz supplementary material

Rho and Tomz supplementary material

Download Rho and Tomz supplementary material(File)
File 1.1 MB