Thursday, June 27, 2013
A1.18D (Oudemanhuispoort)
Depending on the theoretical trade model different variables should influence individuals’ attitude towards globalization. Existing research has come to different conclusions as to whether individuals’ preferences are dependent on their skills (i.e. their level of education), their income or the sector in which they are employed. This lack of coherent findings could be due to various reasons such as the use of different datasets, measurement problems etc. We argue that one needs to approach this empirical incoherence from a theoretical perspective, as the predictions of the different trade models are not mutually exclusive. Consequently, this paper aims at shedding more light on the question as to which type of information individuals rely on when forming their attitude towards globalization: Do individuals focus more on ego- or socio-tropic benefits/costs of free trade? Do they – and if so how - trade off one against the other?
Using survey experiments, we test whether and how people use country-level information to form an opinion on globalization. Furthermore, we are able to assess whether the use of country-level information depends on someone being a globalization winner or loser. Our results help to better understand whether the fact that people are discontent with globalization depends in any way on actual information on the real effects of trade openness. This is important because solutions to ‘get people excited’ about globalization again and thus to ultimately also increase the legitimacy of international trade negotiations, we need these new insights on individual trade policy preferences.
