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Quitting globalization: trade-related job losses, nationalism, and resistance to FDI in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2019

Yilang Feng ,
Andrew Kerner  and
Jane L. Sumner Open the ORCID record for Jane L. Sumner [Opens in a new window]
Yilang Feng
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Andrew Kerner
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
Jane L. Sumner*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jlsumner@umn.edu
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Abstract

Existing research has found that American politicians benefit from trying to attract investment and creates jobs. In this paper, we build on this work by describing the drivers of Americans' attitudes toward inward foreign investment (FDI). We posit that foreign and Chinese investment are different than domestic investment in the public imagination and that nationalism and proximity to deindustrialization interact to shape public opinion about them. We propose and test two theories of this interaction using a survey experiment that randomizes whether a respondent is responding to a statement about “business investment,” “foreign business investment,” or “Chinese business investment”. We find that (1) Americans are skeptical of business investments by Chinese, and, to lesser degree, “foreign” firms; (2) the gap in enthusiasm for generic business investment and foreign/Chinese business investment rises with local trade-related job losses; and (3) the distinction between nationalists' and non-nationalists' attitudes toward FDI declines in local job losses.

Keywords

Experimental researchinternational political economypublic opinion
Type
Original Article
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 292 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © The European Political Science Association 2019

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