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Entry and Asymmetric Lobbying: Why Governments Pick Losers

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Author Info
Richard E. Baldwin
Frederic Robert-Nicoud

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Abstract

Governments frequently intervene to support domestic industries, but a surprising amount of this support goes to ailing sectors. We explain this with a lobbying model that allows for entry and sunk costs. Specifically, policy is influenced by pressure groups that incur lobbying expenses to create rents. In expanding industry, entry tends to erode such rents, but in declining industries, sunk costs rule out entry as long as the rents are not too high. This asymmetric appropriablity of rents means losers lobby harder. Thus it is not that government policy picks losers, it is that losers pick government policy.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8756.

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Date of creation: Jan 2002
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8756

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F1 - International Economics - - Trade
L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy

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References listed on IDEAS
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  3. Bohara, Alok K & Kaempfer, William H, 1991. "A Test of Tariff Endogeneity in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(4), pages 952-60, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Brainard, S. Lael & Verdier, Thierry, 1997. "The political economy of declining industries: Senescent industry collapse revisited," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 221-237, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. 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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  7. Fernandez, Raquel & Rodrik, Dani, 1991. "Resistance to Reform: Status Quo Bias in the Presence of Individual-Specific Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1146-55, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Stephen Coate & Stephen Morris, 1999. "Policy Persistence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1327-1336, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Cassing, James H & Hillman, Arye L, 1986. "Shifting Comparative Advantage and Senescent Industry Collapse," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 516-23, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Leonardo Felli & Antonio Merlo, 2006. "Endogenous Lobbying," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 180-215, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Hansen, John Mark, 1990. "Taxation and the Political Economy of the Tariff," International Organization, MIT Press, vol. 44(4), pages 527-51, Autumn.
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  22. Anne O. Krueger, 1990. "Asymmetries in Policy Between Exportables and Import-Competing Goods," NBER Working Papers 2904, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(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. Niek Nahuis & Ben Geurts, 2004. "Helping thy neighbour: productivity, welfare and international trade," International Trade 0404008, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  2. Yu-Fu Chen & I-Hui Cheng, 2005. "Protection and employment under uncertainty: a real option approach," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 229-238, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Campos, Nauro F & Giovannoni, Francesco, 2006. "Lobbying, Corruption and Political Influence," CEPR Discussion Papers 5886, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Everaert, Greetje M.M., 2004. "The Political Economy of Restructuring and Subsidisation: An International Perspective," BOFIT Discussion Papers 12/2004, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Karacaovali, Baybars, 2006. "Productivity matters for trade policy : theory and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3925, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Garcia Pires, Armando José, 2006. "Losers, Winners and Prisoner's Dilemma in International Subsidy Wars," CEPR Discussion Papers 5979, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Johannes Hers & Niek Nahuis, 2004. "The Tower Of Babel? The Innovation System Approach Versus Mainstream Economics," Method and Hist of Econ Thought 0403001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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