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Do Labor Issues Matter In The Determination Of U.S. Trade Policy? An Empirical Reevaluation

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Author Info
Xenia Matschke (University of California Santa Cruz)
Shane Sherlund (Federal Reserve Board)

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Abstract

Some recent empirical studies, motivated by Grossman and Helpman's (1994) well-known "Protection for Sale" model, suggest that very few factors (none of them laborrelated) determine trade protection. This paper reexamines the roles that labor issues play in the determination of trade policy. We introduce collective bargaining, differences in labor mobility across industries, and trade union lobbying into the protection for sale model and show that the equilibrium protection rate in our model depends upon these labor market variables. In particular, our model predicts that trade protection is structurally higher than in the original Grossman-Helpman model if the trade union of a sector lobbies but capital owners do not, because union workers collect part of the protection rents. On the other hand, equilibrium protection is lower if capital owners lobby but the trade union does not, because part of the protection rents is dissipated to workers. Using data from U.S. manufacturing, we find that collective bargaining, differences in labor mobility across industries, and trade union lobbying do indeed play important roles in the determination of U.S. trade policy.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz in its series Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series with number 1029.

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Date of creation: 04 Nov 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucscec:1029

Note: oai:cdlib1.org:ucscecon-1029
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Related research
Keywords: Tariffs; trade protection; protection for sale; labor market;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kishore Gawande & Usree Bandyopadhyay, 2000. "Is Protection for Sale? Evidence on the Grossman-Helpman Theory of Endogenous Protection," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 139-152, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. MaCurdy, Thomas E & Pencavel, John H, 1986. "Testing between Competing Models of Wage and Employment Determination in Unionized Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages S3-S39, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Theo Eicher & Thomas Osang, 2002. "Protection for Sale: An Empirical Investigation: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1702-1710, December. [Downloadable!]
  4. Baldwin, Robert E & Magee, Christopher S, 2000. " Is Trade Policy for Sale? Congressional Voting on Recent Trade Bills," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 105(1-2), pages 79-101, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Gaston, Noel & Trefler, Daniel, 1995. "Union wage sensitivity to trade and protection: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 1-25, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-50, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Giovanni Maggi, 1999. "Protection for Sale: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1135-1155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-93, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Xenia Matschke, 2004. "Labor Market Rigidities and the Political Economy of Trade Protection," Santa Cruz Center for International Economics, Working Paper Series 1019, Center for International Economics, UC Santa Cruz. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Gawande, Kishore, 1997. "Generated regressors in linear and nonlinear models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 119-126, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Rodrik, Dani, 1995. "Political economy of trade policy," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1457-1494 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Maggi, Giovanni & Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 2000. "Import penetration and the politics of trade protection," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 287-304, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Smith, Richard J & Blundell, Richard W, 1986. "An Exogeneity Test for a Simultaneous Equation Tobit Model with an Application to Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 679-85, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Amemiya, Takeshi, 1979. "The Estimation of a Simultaneous-Equation Tobit Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 20(1), pages 169-81, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Revenga, Ana L, 1992. "Exporting Jobs? The Impact of Import Competition on Employment and Wages in U.S. Manufacturing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(1), pages 255-84, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Bernheim, B Douglas & Whinston, Michael D, 1986. "Menu Auctions, Resource Allocation, and Economic Influence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 1-31, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Giovanni Facchini & Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Gerald Willmann, 2005. "Protection for Sale with Imperfect Rent Capturing," NBER Working Papers 11269, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Xenia Matschke, 2006. "Do Labor Market Imperfections Increase Trade Protection? A Theoretical Investigation," Working papers 2006-12, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
  3. Arnaud Costenot, 2006. "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: A New Perspective on Protectionism," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2006-05, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  4. Rigoberto A. Lopez & Xenia Matschke, 2005. "Food Protection for Sale," Working papers 2005-13, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Susumu Imai & Hajime Katayama & Kala Krishna, 2006. "Protection for Sale or Surge Protection?," Working Papers 1114, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Susumu Imai & Hajime Katayama & Kala Krishna, 2008. "Is Protection Really for Sale? A Survey and Directions for Future Research," NBER Working Papers 13899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Xenia Matschke, 2005. "Costly Revenue-Raising and the Case for Favoring Import-Competing Industries," Working papers 2005-28, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Xenia Matschke, 2004. "Labor Market Rigidities and the Political Economy of Trade Protection," Santa Cruz Center for International Economics, Working Paper Series 1019, Center for International Economics, UC Santa Cruz. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Per G. Fredriksson & Xenia Matschke & Jenny Minier, 2008. "For Sale: Trade Policy in Majoritarian Systems," Working papers 2008-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Arnaud Costinot, 2008. "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: A "New" Perspective on Protectionism," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 2006-05R, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
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