TY  - JOUR
AU  - Blonigen,Bruce
TI  - New Evidence on the Formation of Trade Policy Preferences
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14627
PY  - 2008
Y2  - December 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14627
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14627.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Bruce Blonigen
Department of Economics
1285 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1285
Tel: 541/346-4680
Fax: 541/346-1243
E-Mail: bruceb@uoregon.edu
AB  - This paper revisits the issue of people's preferences for international trade protection examining survey data from the American National Election Studies.  I first show that both an individual's skills and the international trade characteristics of their employment industry affects their trade policy preferences, in contrast to previous analysis using these data.  Second, I document that many people do not feel informed enough to state a preference on trade protection, which is inconsistent with assumptions of standard political economy models.  I examine the factors that correlate with being uninformed, and show that inferences from actual trade policy outcomes can be incorrect if one does not account for this uninformed group.  Finally, I examine and find that individuals' retirement decisions have systematic effects on both their choice to be informed and their trade policy preferences.  This highlights that there are significant life-cycle implications to trade policy preferences.
ER  -