Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T00:47:40.857Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The puzzle of heterogeneity in support for free trade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jeffrey Drope
Affiliation:
American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA Department of Political Science, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA

Abstract

Over time and across countries, researchers have noted frequent and mostly unexplained gender differences in the levels of support for policies of free or freer trade: according to aggregate results from many surveys, women tend to be less favorable toward policies of liberalizing trade than men. Positing an economic security explanation based largely on a mobile factors approach, we ask if it is women generally who are more negative toward trade or rather women who are more economically vulnerable – i.e., women from the scarce labor factor. We utilize data from two recent surveys on individuals’ attitudes toward different facets of trade and its effects to examine this hypothesis empirically. Rejecting a monolithic definition of “women,” we find that disaggregating by education level illuminates to some extent what underlying characteristics might be helping to drive some of these findings. Lower-skilled women in the US are much less likely to support free trade compared to higher-skilled women and this may largely explain previous negative findings. The low versus high-skill dynamic is, however, much less clear in the findings using survey data from a small sample of developing countries.

Type
Research articles
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2014 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armijo, Leslie and Faucher, Philippe. 2002. “‘We Have a Consensus’: Explaining Political Support for Market Reforms in Latin America.” Latin American Politics and Society 44 (2): 140.Google Scholar
Artecona, Raquel and Cunningham, Wendy. 2002. “Effects of Trade Liberalization on the Gender Wage Gap in Mexico.” Working Paper. Washington D.C.: World Bank Development Research Group/Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network.Google Scholar
Atkinson, Stanley M., Boyce Baird, Samantha and Frye, Melissa B. 2003. “Do Female Mutual Fund Managers Manage Differently?Journal of Financial Research 26 (1): 118.Google Scholar
Baker, Andy. 2003. “Why is Trade Reform So Popular in Latin America? A Consumption-Based Theory of Trade Policy Preferences.” World Politics 55 (3): 423455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Andy. 2005. “Who Wants to Globalize? Consumer Tastes and Labor Markets in a Theory of Trade Policy Beliefs.” American Journal of Political Science 49 (4): 924938.Google Scholar
Baker, Andy. 2009. The Market and the Masses in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beaulieu, Eugene and Napier, Michael. 2008. “Why are Women more Protectionist than Men?” Working Paper. Calgary: Department of Economics, University of Calgary.Google Scholar
Beaulieu, Eugene, Yatawara, A. and Wang, W. G. 2005. “Who Supports Free Trade in Latin America.” World Economy 28 (7): 941959.Google Scholar
Blonigen, Bruce A. 2009. “New Evidence on the Formation of Individuals’ Trade Policy Preferences.” Working Paper. Eugene: University of Oregon and NBER.Google Scholar
Booth, David, Lugngira, F., Masanja, P., Mvungi, A., Mwaipopo, R., Mwami, J. and Redmayne, A. 1993. Social, Economic and Cultural Change in Contemporary Tanzania: A People Oriented Focus. Stockholm: Swedish International Development Authority.Google Scholar
Boston Consulting Group. 2008. Global Inquiry into Women and Consumerism. Boston Consulting Group.Google Scholar
Burgoon, Brian A. and Hiscox, Michael J. 2004. “The Gender Divide over International Trade: Why Do Men and Women Have Different Views about Openness to the World Economy?” Working Paper. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.Google Scholar
Crosson, Rachel and Gneezy, Uri. 2009. “Gender Differences in Preferences.” Journal of Economic Literature 47 (2): 127.Google Scholar
Daniels, Joseph and von der Ruhr, Mark. 2005. “God and the Global Economy: Religion and Attitudes Toward Trade and Immigration in the U.S.Socio-Economic Review 3 (3): 467489.Google Scholar
Dutt, Pushan and Mitra, Devanish. 2002. “Endogenous trade policy through majority voting: an empirical investigation.” Journal of International Economics 58: 107133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magazine, Fortune. 2008. “Recession Near, or Already Have.” Fortune Magazine Poll. Accessed June 12, 2014. http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/electionpoll/2008/pollresults.html.Google Scholar
Gabel, Matthew. 1998. Interests and Integration: Market Liberalization, Public Opinion, and the European Union. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Carol and Pettinato, Stefano. 2001. “Happiness, Markets and Democracy: Latin America in Comparative Perspective.” Journal of Happiness Studies 2 (3): 237268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens and Hiscox, Michael. 2006. “Learning to Love Globalization: Education and Individual Attitudes Toward International Trade.” International Organization 60 (Spring): 469498.Google Scholar
Hall, H. K., Kao, C. and Nelson, D. 1998. “Women and Tariffs: Testing the Gender Gap Hypothesis in a Downs-Mayer Political-Economy Model.” Economic Inquiry 36 (2): 320332.Google Scholar
International Labor Organization. 2010. Global Trends of Youth Employment. Geneva: United Nations – ILO.Google Scholar
Kabeer, Naila. 2000. The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka. New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Kaltenthaler, Karl, Gelleny, Ronald and Ceccoli, Stephen. 2004. “Explaining Citizen Support for Trade Liberalization.” International Studies Quarterly 48 (4): 829851.Google Scholar
Kingstone, Peter and Young, Joseph. 2009. “Partisanship and Policy Choice: What's Left for the Left in Latin America.” Political Research Quarterly 62 (1): 2941.Google Scholar
Kucera, David and Milberg, William. 2000. “Gender Segregation and Gender Bias in Manufacturing Trade Expansion: Revisiting the ‘Wood Asymmetry’.” World Development 28 (7): 11911210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaloni, Beatriz and Romero, Vidal. 2008. “Partisan Cleavages, State Retrenchment, and Free Trade.” Latin American Research Review 43 (2): 107135.Google Scholar
Mansfield, Edward and Mutz, Diana. 2009. “Support for Free Trade: Self-Interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety.” International Organization 63 (3): 425457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathew, E. T. 2006. Emerging Tendencies in the Post-Reform Period. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Mayda, Anna Maria and Rodrik, Dani. 2005. “Why are Some People (and countries) more Protectionist than Others?European Economic Review 49: 13931430.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Michael N. and Chen, Xiao. 2005. “Visualizing Main Effects and Interactions for Binary Logit Models.” The Stata Journal 5 (1): 6482.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin and Sinnott, Richard. 2001. “The Determinants of Individual Trade Policy Preferences: International Survey Evidence.” Brookings Trade Forum 2001: 157206.Google Scholar
Saavedra, Luz. 2001. “Female Wage Inequality in Latin American Labor Markets.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2741. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth and Slaughter, Matthew. 2001. “What Determines Individual Trade Policy Preferences?Journal of International Economics 54 (2): 267292.Google Scholar
School of International and Public Affairs. 2001. Learning from UNIFEM's Work on Gender and Trade: A Multi-Regional Assessment. New York: Columbia University – SIPA.Google Scholar
Seligson, Mitchell. 1999. “Popular Support for Regional Economic Integration in Latin America.” Journal of Latin American Studies 31 (1): 129150.Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 2001. Gendering World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Varley, Ann. 1996. “Women Heading Households: Some More Equal than Others?World Development 24 (3): 505520.Google Scholar
World Public Opinion. 2008. “Poll: Muslims Positive About Globalization, Trade.” August 27. Accessed June 12, 2014. http://worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/btglobalization-tradera/528.php?lb=btgl&pnt=528&nid=id=.Google Scholar