A Political Disconnect? Evidence From Voting on Trade Agreements

Paola Conconi, Florin Cucu, Federico Gallina and Mattia Nardotto

No 19609, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We study votes of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the approval of free trade agreements (FTAs). Against widespread Eurosceptic arguments, we find that MEPs are responsive to the interests of their electorate and their re-election chances increase with the extent to which their votes on trade agreements are aligned with their constituents’ interests. By contrast, US legislators’ votes on FTAs are disconnected from their electorate’s interests and do not impact their re-election chances. Our results suggest that legislators’ accountability on a policy issue may depend on its salience relative to other policies in the legislators’ sphere of competence.

Keywords: Electoral accountability; Trade agreements; EU and US legislation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-10
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