TY  - JOUR
AU  - Grossman,Gene M.
AU  - Helpman,Elhanan
TI  - A Protectionist Bias in Majoritarian Politics
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11014
PY  - 2004
Y2  - December 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11014
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11014.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Gene M. Grossman
International Economics Section
Department of Economics
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: 609/258-4823
Fax: 609/258-1374
E-Mail: grossman@princeton.edu

Elhanan Helpman
Eitan Berglas School of Economics
Tel Aviv University
Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv 69978  ISRAEL
Tel: 972-3-641-0194
Fax: 972-3-642-8074
E-Mail: ehelpman@harvard.edu
M1  - published as Grossman, Gene M. and Elhanan Helpman. "A Protectionist Bias In Majoritarian Politics," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2005, v120(4,Nov), 11239-1282.
AB  - We develop a novel model of campaigns, elections, and policymaking in which the ex ante objectives of national party leaders differ from the ex post objectives of elected legislators. This generates a distinction between "policy rhetoric" and "policy reality" and introduces an important role for "party discipline" in the policymaking process. We identify a protectionist bias in majoritarian politics. When trade policy is chosen by the majority delegation and legislators in the minority have limited means to influence choices, the parties announce trade policies that favor specific factors, and the expected tariff or export subsidy is positive. Positions and expected outcomes monotonically approach free trade as party discipline strengthens.
ER  -