Who supports free trade in developing countries and why: comparative advantage vs the skill premium

Hazama Yasushi

No 855, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: Previous studies on free trade preferences in developing countries have shown mixed results thus supporting either model in international trade theory: free trade is favored by unskilled labor (the comparative-advantage model) or skilled labor (the skill-premium model). We apply the synthetic model by Burstein and Vogel while addressing two major issues overlooked in previous research. We distinguish (1) between education levels and occupational categories and (2) between preferences and reasons. Using a survey in Turkey we show that individuals who work in an unskilled occupation but who are better educated tend to favor free trade because of exports.

Keywords: Public opinion; Free trade; Comparative advantage; Skill premium; Turkey; Developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 F16 F66 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 855. 2022-06

Downloads: (external link)
https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/53113/files/IDP000855_001.pdf First version, 2022 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper855

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
Publication Office, IDE 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545 JAPAN
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Order

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michitaka Imamitsu ().