In a democratic country, economic policies succeed or fail depending on its political support. Open trade policies that were initiated and accepted years ago, in particular, can be reversed, within the limits of the country’s international commitments, depending on the government’s conviction as well as popular pressure. If trade policy were to be subject to a national vote, doubtless, many would show inclination towards greater protectionism. Using ISSP survey data for the Philippines, the paper examines factors that affect individual preferences towards more protectionism as well as towards greater trade liberalization. It finds, surprisingly, that years of education, economic class, employment in public sector, and urban population negatively correlate with pro-trade attitude. In the case of the negative relation of years of education with pro-trade preference, the authors argue that this has its justification in the Hecksher-Ohlin-Samuelson model of trade and factor returns.
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Paper provided by Philippine Institute for Development Studies in its series Discussion Papers with number
DP 2004-16.
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.:
Leamer, Edward E. & Levinsohn, James, 1995.
"International trade theory: The evidence,"
Handbook of International Economics,
in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1339-1394
Elsevier.
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