scholarly journals Misattributed blame? Attitudes toward globalization in the age of automation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Nicole Wu
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Representative Survey ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Standard Assumption ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Pocket Book ◽  
Nationally Representative

Abstract Many, especially low-skilled workers, blame globalization for their economic woes. Robots and machines, which have led to job market polarization, rising income inequality, and labor displacement, are often viewed much more forgivingly. This paper argues that citizens have a tendency to misattribute blame for economic dislocations toward immigrants and workers abroad, while discounting the effects of technology. Using the 2016 American National Elections Studies, a nationally representative survey, I show that workers facing higher risks of automation are more likely to oppose free trade agreements and favor immigration restrictions, even controlling for standard explanations for these attitudes. Although pocket-book concerns do influence attitudes toward globalization, this study calls into question the standard assumption that individuals understand and can correctly identify the sources of their economic anxieties. Accelerated automation may have intensified attempts to resist globalization.

Migration, Trade and Remittances: Low- and High-Skilled Workers

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
International Trade ◽  
International Migration ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Trade Deals ◽  
National Borders ◽  
At Home

International migration involves the movement of people over national borders, while international trade deals with the production of goods or services in one country and their consumption in another. Economic theory assumes that migration and trade are substitutes, so that freer trade between countries with different wage levels should reduce voluntary migration as trade leads to convergence in wages. However, free-trade agreements can produce a migration hump as the pace of change accelerates and economies adjust, as migration increases before investment creates enough jobs to generate stay-at-home development despite remittances from migrants abroad. Efforts to deal with the root causes of migration must be aware of potential migration humps.

Mass support for free trade agreements and factor endowment

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-558
Author(s):  
Kim-Lee Tuxhorn
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Skill Level ◽  
Factor Endowment ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Economic Preferences ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Trade Partners

Does the factor endowment (FE) of trade partners influence mass support for free trade agreements (FTAs), and if so, how? Preference models based on factor endowment expect that individual attitudes toward trade partners should systematically vary by factors of endowment and respondents’ skill level. This paper provides the first systematic examination of the effect of trade partner’s FE on mass support for FTAs. Using a conjoint analysis design on a sample of respondents from developed and developing economies (the US and India), the findings show that respondents consistently favour trade partners with a highly educated workforce and a higher level of gross domestic product per capita. Moreover, preferences for these country attributes hold regardless of respondents’ skill level or their country’s FE. Data from a nationally representative survey on Canadian trade preferences offer additional corroborating evidence. Together, the findings offer limited support for economic preferences derived from factor endowment trade models, indicating that individuals, within and across countries, may share a common bias against trade with lesser-developed states.

Trips and Later Inter-Se Agreements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Trips Agreement ◽  
Ip Protection

This chapter focusses on how ‘Free Trade Agreements’ (FTAs) fit within the existing multilateral framework, primarily with the Trade Related Aspects of International Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which most FTAs take as basis and benchmark from which the contracting parties modify rules among another (inter-se). In this context, the most prominent issue is the effect the continuous strengthening of the standards of intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement has on the optional provisions and flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement. The chapter examines whether and how the TRIPS addresses such further increases in protection and enforcement. It also looks at conflict clauses in FTAs and how they perceive their relation with the multilateral IP rules, especially the TRIPS Agreement. The principal question here is whether rule-relations within the international IP system are still primarily determined by harmonious interpretation — or if conflict resolution rather functions by choosing one rule over another.

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