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Policymakers' Horizon and Trade Reforms: the Protectionist Effect of Elections

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  • Giovanni Facchini
  • Maurizio Zanardi
Abstract
This paper shows that electoral incentives deter politicians from supporting trade liberalization. We focus on all major trade liberalization bills introduced since the early 1970s in the U.S. Congress, in which House and Senate members serve respectively two- and six-year terms and one third of senators face elections every two years. We show that senators are more likely to support trade liberalization than House representatives. However, this result does not hold for the last generation of senators, who face elections at the same time as House members, suggesting that inter-cameral differences are driven by term length. Considering senators alone, we find that the last generation is less likely to support trade liberalization than the previous two. This result is pervasive and holds both when comparing the behavior of different senators voting on the same bill and that of individual senators voting on different bills. The protectionist effect of election proximity disappears for senators who are retiring or hold safe seats.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Facchini & Maurizio Zanardi, 2014. "Policymakers' Horizon and Trade Reforms: the Protectionist Effect of Elections," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/191190, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/191190
    Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Election proximity; Roll-call votes; Term length; Trade liberalization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General

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