Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/181591 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2018: Digitale Wirtschaft - Session: International Trade V No. D18-V1
Publisher: 
ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel, Hamburg
Abstract: 
Our paper contributes by demonstrating that public opinion on open-market policies is mainly shaped by ideology rather than by rational considerations and economic self-interest. Exploiting data on attitudes towards TTIP, Free Trade, Protectionism, and Globalization from the Eurobarometer, a comprehensive biannual survey across EU citizens, we find that individual preferences towards different trade policies can hardly be explained by variables that typically determine personal advantages of trade liberalization. Nevertheless, rational considerations follow expected patterns but are not overly relevant. Rather, we find trust variables and country-fixed-effects being predominant drivers of individual open-market attitudes. Our data also allow for a spatial analysis at the European NUTS-2 level. Performing a cross-country analysis, we find a causal relation between anti-Americanism and national TTIP approval rates. Macroeconomic performance variables contribute only to a minor extent in shaping regional and national preferences.
Subjects: 
International Political Economy
Free Trade Attitudes
TTIP
JEL: 
F13
F53
F68
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.