@techreport{NBERw5309,
 title = "Politics and Trade Policy",
 author = "Elhanan Helpman",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "5309",
 year = "1995",
 month = "October",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w5309",
 abstract = {First I describe a number of political economy approaches that have been developed to explain trade policies.  All approaches are presented in a unified framework that helps to see the key differences among them.  These comparisons revolve around tariff formulas that are predicted by political equilibria.  A typical formula explains cross- sectoral variations in rates of protection as well as differences in average rates of protection across countries.  Second, I review a set of results that emerge from a new approach to the interaction of international economic relations with domestic politics.  Importantly, there are two-way interactions in such systems.  They link the formation of trade policies in the international arena with the activities of domestic special interest groups.  The use of a framework of this sort is essential for a proper analysis of a host of important problems, such as negotiations about tariff levels or the formation of free trade areas.  Recent studies have developed suitable tools for this purpose.},
}