TY  - JOUR
AU  - O'Rourke,Kevin H.
AU  - Taylor,Alan M.
TI  - Democracy and Protectionism
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12250
PY  - 2006
Y2  - May 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12250
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12250.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Kevin H. O'Rourke
All Souls College
Oxford University
Oxford OX1 4AL, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)1865 279 348
Fax: 353-1-6772503
E-Mail: kevin.orourke@all-souls.ox.ac.uk

Alan M. Taylor
Department of Economics
University of Virginia
Monroe Hall
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Fax: (434) 982-2904
E-Mail: alan.m.taylor@virginia.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2006-05-22
AB  - Does democracy encourage free trade? It depends. Broadening the franchise involves transferring power from non-elected elites to the wider population, most of whom will be workers. The Hecksher-Ohlin-Stolper-Samuelson logic says that democratization should lead to more liberal trade policies in countries where workers stand to gain from free trade; and to more protectionist policies in countries where workers will benefit from the imposition of tariffs and quotas. We test and confirm these political economy implications of trade theory hypothesis using data on democracy, factor endowments, and protection in the late nineteenth century.
ER  -