Mass support for free trade agreements and factor endowment

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-558
Author(s):  
Kim-Lee Tuxhorn

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.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4363
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Dent

Efforts to tackle climate change are taking place on multiple fronts. This includes trade, an increasingly important defining feature of the global economy. In recent years, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become the primary mechanism of trade policy and diplomacy. This study examines the development of climate action measures in FTAs and discusses what difference they can make to tackling climate change. Its primary source research is based on an in-depth examination of FTAs in force up to 2020. This paper is structured around a number of research questions forming around three main inter-related areas of enquiry. Firstly, to what extent are these provisions in FTAs essentially derivative of energy’s connections with climate change, and thus part of a wider trade–climate–energy nexus? Secondly, what kinds of climate action are FTAs specifically promoting, and how effective a potential positive impact may we expect these to have? Thirdly, are certain climate action norms being promoted by trade partners in FTAs and if so, then who are the norm leaders, what is motivating them, and to what extent are they extending their influence over other trade partners? In addressing these questions, this study offers new insights and analysis regarding a potentially important emerging trend in the trade–climate–energy nexus. Its international political economy approach and latest empirical research also provide a further distinctive contribution to knowledge in this inter-disciplinary area, developing new comprehensions of the relationship between trade, climate action and energy.


Author(s):  
Nicole Wu

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Kenta Yamanouchi

This paper investigates the trade creation effects of Japan's free trade agreements (FTAs) using aggregate trade data for the years 1996–2015. We estimate various specifications of a gravity model. Our main finding is that the effects of Japan's FTAs are not clearly observed when the gravity model is specified with three types of fixed effects (i.e., exporter-year fixed effects, importer-year fixed effects, and country-pair fixed effects). In fact, the effects of FTAs vary substantially among trade partners and around half of the FTAs increase Japan's trade values. Our results also suggest that FTAs with small trade partners tend to have large effects on Japan as well as other countries. Recently enforced FTAs, however, increase Japan's import values more rapidly.


Asian Survey ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 982-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chika Yamamoto Rosenbaum ◽  
Jonathan Krieckhaus

This study examines why and when South Korea has pursued free trade agreements. Empirical analysis evaluates Korea’s free trade partners based on (1) market size, (2) levels of economic development, (3) geographic proximity, (4) democratic governance, and (5) trade competition with China and Japan.


2021 ◽  
pp. 167-193
Author(s):  
Christel Elvestad ◽  
Tatiana Isachenko

AbstractThis chapter analyses changes in Russia’s agri-food trade relations after 2014 with a specific focus on regional trade agreements. The introduction of countersanctions against Western countries in 2014 spurred the need to replace some of Russia’s most important foreign food trade partners. Free trade agreements can be effective instruments to boost trade and strengthen ties between countries. Russia is a latecomer in the race for free trade agreements, but a series of agreements have been negotiated since 2015. The portfolio of free trade agreements is still in an early stage, but there is a clear turn to Asia in Russia’s trade. China’s role in total trade as well as in agri-food trade with Russia is considerably strengthened despite the lack of trade preferences so far.


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