Contesting An International Trade Agreement - TDPE

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, Trade, Development and Political Economy present

James Lake, Associate Professor of Economics, Southern Methodist University

Contesting An International Trade Agreement
Authors: Matthew Cole, James Lake and Ben Zissimos

The authors develop a new theoretical political economy framework, called a `parallel contest’, that emphasizes the political fight over trade agreement (TA) ratification within countries. TA ratification is inherently uncertain in each country, where anti- and pro-trade interest groups contest each other to influence their own governments’ ratification decision. Unlike prior literature, the protection embodied in negotiated TA tariffs reflects a balance between the liberalizing force of lobbying and inherently protectionist government preferences. Moreover, new international political externalities emerge that are not internalized by governments that just internalize terms of trade externalities. 

James Lake is Associate Professor of Economics at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. His research focuses on international trade agreements. He has published several papers in the Journal of International Economics.

For more information, contact Devashish Mitra, dmitra@syr.edu

Sponsored by: Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs