Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:32:29.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

French Wine and the U.S. Boycott of 2003: Does Politics Really Affect Commerce?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2012

Orley Ashenfelter ,
Stephen Ciccarella  and
Howard J. Shatz
Orley Ashenfelter
Affiliation:
Economics Department, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, Princeton,New Jersey 08544–2098, Tel (609) 258–4040, Fax (609) 258–2907, email: [email protected]
Stephen Ciccarella
Affiliation:
Economics Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, Tel (607) 232–2147, Fax (607) 255–2818, email: [email protected]
Howard J. Shatz
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation, 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202–5050, Tel (703) 413–1100 x5184, Fax (703) 413–8111, email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In early 2003, France actively tried to thwart the plans of the Bush administration to build international support for a war to depose Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. In response, calls in the United States for a boycott of French products, wine in particular, rebounded through all forms of media. In the spring of 2003, French business people even reported that the boycott calls were hurting their U.S. sales. Using a dataset of sales of nearly 4,700 individual wine brands, we show that there actually was no boycott effect. Rather, sales of French wine dipped for two reasons. First, they experience a cyclical peak at holiday time, from November through early January, and the boycott was called during the February to May period. Second, sales of French wine have been in a secular decline in the United States. Sales in February through May 2003 merely stayed on trend. We contrast our results with other recent work that has found evidence of a boycott effect but that omits the holiday effect from several specifications. French wine producers may be having economic problems, but it is not because of their government's foreign policy. (JEL classification: D12, F14, L66, Q17)

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , Spring 2007 , pp. 55 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2007

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

Airman: Magazine of America's Air Force (2003). Operation Iraqi freedom chronology. June, web edition, available at http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0603/oifupsb1.html (as of June 23, 2006).Google Scholar
Barringer, F. (2003). Threats and responses: United Nations; U.N. split widens as allies dismiss deadline on Iraq. The New York Times, March 8, 1.Google Scholar
Bentzen, J. and Smith, V. (2001). Did the French nuclear tests under the Muroroa atoll affect the export of French wine to Denmark? Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Denmark, May 14.Google Scholar
Blair, T. (2003). Bin of the Brave. The Bulletin (Australia), February 19.Google Scholar
Chavis, L. and Leslie, P. (2006). Consumer boycotts: the impact of the Iraq war on French wine sales in the U.S.. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 11981. Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Dang, D.T. (2003). Pardon their French, they feed the marines; Contract: Sodexho Inc., Under contract to feed U.S. marines, is under attack for its French connection, but the marines at camp Lejeune keep right on lining up for chow,” The Baltimore Sun, April 13, 1D.Google Scholar
Earls, B. (2003). I'm buying French. Hartford Courant, March 14, A15.Google Scholar
Gatlin, L. (2003). French still sells, despite war stance. The Boston Herald, February 13, 41.Google Scholar
Gawker, (2003). Protest map and logistics. Gawker.com, February 15.Google Scholar
Hitchens, C. (2003). The Jordan connection: why Amman helped track down Zarqawi. Slate, June 12.Google Scholar
Instapundit (2003). Posts of February 10 and February 11, http://instapundit.com.Google Scholar
Jarvis, J. (2003). Remember France? Post of March 26, http://www.buzzmachine.com.Google Scholar
Kiely, K. (2003). Angry Americans aim ire at France. USA Today, February 20, 8A.Google Scholar
KYW-TV Eyewitness News (2003). French Wine Boycott. Video Monitoring Services of America, February 26.Google Scholar
Little Green Footballs (2003). Our Favorite Pastime, Post of March 6, http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog.Google Scholar
Lou Dobbs Moneyline (2003a). Lou Dobbs Moneyline for March 27, 2003, CNN.Google Scholar
Lou Dobbs Moneyline (2003b). Troops in place for war with Iraq. February 13, CNN.Google Scholar
McCartney, R.J. (2003). U.S. boycott being felt, French say; wine sales off sharply; other products affected. The Washington Post, April 16, A32.Google Scholar
The New York Times (2003). Threats and responses; words of refusal: three nations say no. March 6, 16.Google Scholar
The O'Reilly Factor (2003). Interview with Senator Evan Bayh. Fox News Network, March 17.Google Scholar
Sciolino, E. (2003). Threats and responses: discord; France to veto resolution on Iraq war, Chirac says. The New York Times, March 11, 10.Google Scholar
Syler, R. (2003). Restaurant changing its name of French fries to freedom fries. The Early Show, CBS News Transcripts, February 17.Google Scholar
Traven, B. (1934). The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. London: Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
U.S. International Trade Commission (2006). HTS 2204: Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must (having an alcoholic strength by volume exceeding 0.5% vol.) NESOI, customs value by HTS number and country name for all countries, U.S. imports for consumption. DataWeb Version 2.7.4, Washington, D.C., accessed June 23, 2006.Google Scholar
Vannerson, F. (2004). Wine, francophobia and boycotts. Princeton, New Jersey, available at http://www.liquidasset.com (as of June 2006).Google Scholar