Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:40:04.004Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Offshore production's effect on Americans’ attitudes toward trade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2020

Andrew Kerner Open the ORCID record for Andrew Kerner [Opens in a new window] ,
Jane Sumner  and
Brian Richter
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

American discontent with offshore production features heavily in trade policy debates. But Americans more typically encounter offshore production in apolitical contexts as consumers. We argue that these ostensibly apolitical encounters with offshore production are, in fact, freighted with political consequences. This paper asks: When and for whom does consumer-based exposure to offshore production reduce support for free trade? This is an important in its own right, but also sheds light on the contexts in which more overtly political references to offshore production are likely to find the most fertile ground. We answer these questions using a survey experiment that embeds an offshoring “prime” into an advertisement for pet furniture, varying the location of production across different treatment groups. We find that our experimental exposure to offshore production depressed enthusiasm for free trade, but only when production occurred in China, and mainly among white men living near trade-related job loss. That heterogeneity resonates with work on the economic and social aspects of the decline in American manufacturing employment.

Keywords

trade preferencesoffshoringmultinational corporationspublic opinion
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 539 - 571
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2020 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Autor, David. H., Dorn, David, and H. Hanson, Gordon. 2015. “Untangling trade and technology: Evidence from local labour markets.” The Economic Journal 125 (584): 621–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ardanaz, M., Murillo, M. V., and Pinto, P. M.. 2013. “Sensitivity to issue framing on trade policy preferences: evidence from a survey experiment.” International Organization 67 (2): 411–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autor, D. H., Dorn, D., and Hanson, G. H.. 2016. “The china shock: Learning from labor-market adjustment to large changes in trade.” Annual Review of Economics 8: 205–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autor, D. H., Dorn, D., and Hanson, G. H.. 2017. “When work disappears: manufacturing decline and the falling marriage-market value of men (No. 23173).” National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Autor, D., Dorn, D., Hanson, G., and Majlesi, K.. 2016. “A note on the effect of rising trade exposure on the 2016 presidential election.” Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar
Berinsky, A. J., Huber, G. A., and Lenz, G. S.. 2012. “Evaluating online labor markets for experimental research: Amazon. com's Mechanical Turk.” Political analysis 20 (3): 351–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownstein, R. 2016. “Trump's Rhetoric of White Nostalgia.” The Atlantic.Google Scholar
Brunk, K. H. 2010. “Exploring origins of ethical company/brand perceptions—A consumer perspective of corporate ethics.” Journal of Business Research 63 (3): 255–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., and Gosling, S. D.. 2011. “Amazon's Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality, data?” Perspectives on psychological science 6 (1): 3–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Case, A., and Deaton, A.. 2015. “Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non- Hispanic Americans in the 21st century.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (49): 15078–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Case, A., and Deaton, A.. 2017. “Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 23–24.Google Scholar
Che, Y., Lu, Y., Pierce, J. R., Schott, R. K., and Tao, Z.. 2016. Trade Liberalization with China Influence US Elections? (No. w22178). National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, K. J. 2016. The politics of resentment: Rural consciousness in Wisconsin and the rise of Scott Walker. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowie, J. 2016. “The Great White Nope: Poor, Working Class, and Left behind in America.” Foreign Affairs 95: 147.Google Scholar
Doherty, C. 2006. “Attitudes toward immigration: In black and white.” Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, April 2006.Google Scholar
Feigenbaum, J. J., and Hall, A. B.. 2015. “How legislators respond to localized economic shocks: Evidence from Chinese import competition.” The Journal of Politics 77 (4): 1012–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernholz, Tim. 2016. “Trump's choice of trade enemies reveals the racial subtext of his economic appeal.” Quartz.com, 15 March. http://qz.com/638695/theres-one-country-that-reveals-the-racism-behind-donald-trumps-economic-rants/.Google Scholar
Freund, Caroline, and Sidhu, Dario. 2017. “Manufacturing and the 2016 Election: An Analysis of US Presidential Election Data.” Peterson IIE WP 17-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2016. “Information, Gender, and Differences in Individual Trade Preferences.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 37 (4): 538–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2017. American opinion on trade: Preferences without politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiscox, M. J. (2006). Through a glass and darkly: Attitudes toward international trade and the curious effects of issue framing. International Organization 60 (3): 755–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huff, C., and Tingley, D.. 2015. “‘Who are these people?’ Evaluating the demographic characteristics and political preferences of MTurk survey respondents.” Research & Politics 2 (3): 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, J. B., Quinn, D. P., and Weymouth, S.. 2017. “Winners and losers in international trade: The effects on us presidential voting.” International Organization 1: 35.Google Scholar
Kerner, Andrew, and Sumner, Jane. 2019. “Salvation by Good Works?: Offshoring, Corporate Philanthropy and Public Attitudes Toward Trade Policy.” Economics and Politics. DOI: 10.1111/ecpo.12146.Google Scholar
Klein, J. G. 2002. “Us versus them, or us versus everyone? Delineating consumer aversion to foreign goods.” Journal of International Business Studies 33 (2): 345–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, J. G., Ettenson, R., and Morris, M. D.. 1998. “The animosity model of foreign product purchase: An empirical test in the People's Republic of China.” The Journal of Marketing: 89–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kotler, P., and Gertne, D.. 2002. Country as brand, product, and beyond: A place marketing and brand management perspective. Journal of brand management 9 (4): 249–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamont, Michele, Park, Bo Yun, and Ayal-Hurtado, Elena. 2017. “What Trump's Campaign Speeches Show Abouth His Lasting Appeal to the White Working Class.” Harvard Business Review 8 November 2017.Google Scholar
Lee, J. W., Jones, P. S., Mineyama, Y., and Zhang, X. E.. 2002. “Cultural differences in responses to a Likert scale.” Research in nursing & health 25 (4): 295–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansfield, E. D., and Mutz, D. C.. 2009. “Support for free trade: Self-interest, Sociotropic politics, and out-group anxiety.” International Organization 63 (3): 425–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansfield, E. D., and Mutz, D. C.. 2013. “US versus them: Mass attitudes toward offshore outsourcing.” World Politics 65 (4): 571–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margalit, Y. 2011. “Costly Jobs: Trade-Related Layoffs, Government Compensation, and Voting in US Elections.” American Political Science Review 105 (1): 166–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margalit, Y. 2012. “Lost in globalization: International economic integration and the sources of popular discontent.” International Studies Quarterly 56 (3): 484–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutz, Diana C. 2018. “Status Threat, not Economic Hardship, Explains the 2016 Presidential Vote.” PNAS 115 (19): E4330–E4339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naoi, M., and Kume, I.. 2011. “Explaining Mass Support for Agricultural Protectionism: Evidence from a Survey Experiment During the Global Recession.” International Organization 65 (4): 771–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, Erica, and P. Johnson, Noel. 2017. “Occupation and the political economy of trade: job routineness, offshorability, and protectionist sentiment.” International Organization 71 (4): 665–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Rourke, K. H., and Sinnott, R.. 2001. “The determinants of individual trade policy preferences: International survey evidence.” In Brookings trade forum, 157–206. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Pandya, S. S., and Venkatesan, R.. 2016. “French roast: consumer response to international conflict—evidence from supermarket scanner data.” Review of Economics and Statistics 98 (1): 42–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierce, J. R., and Schott, R. K.. 2016. “Trade liberalization and mortality: Evidence from US counties (No. w22849).” National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rho, S., and Tomz, M.. 2017. “Why Don't Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self- Interest?” International Organization 71 (S1): S85–S108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimp, T. A., and Sharma, S.. 1987. “Consumer ethnocentrism: construction and validation of the CETSCALE.” Journal of marketing research 24 (3): 280–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slothuus, R., and De Vreese, C. H.. 2010. “Political parties, motivated reasoning, and issue framing effects.” The Journal of Politics 72 (3): 630–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilker, G., Bernauer, T., and Umaña, V.. 2016. “Selecting partner countries for preferential trade agreements: Experimental evidence from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Vietnam.” International Studies Quarterly 60 (4): 706–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilker, G., T., Bernauer, and Umaña, V.. 2018. “What Kinds of Trade Liberalization Agreements Do People in Developing Countries Want?” International Interactions 44 (3): 510–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verlegh, P. W., and Steenkamp, J. B. E.. 1999. “A review and meta-analysis of country-of-origin research.” Journal of economic psychology 20 (5): 521–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, S. 2017. “Globalization and the demand-side of politics: How globalization shapes labor market risk perceptions and policy preferences.” Political Science Research and Methods 5 (1): 55–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weymouth, S. 2017. “Services Firms in the Politics of US Trade Policy.” International Studies Quarterly.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xian, Min. 2017. “Johnstown Residents Bristle Over Town's Portrayal In Recent Viral Article On Trump Supporters.” WESA, Pittsburgh National Public Radio. http://wesa.fm/post/johnstown-residents-bristle-over-towns-portrayal-recent-viral-article-trump-supporters#stream/0.Google Scholar