Simone Cremaschi (Bocconi), Paula Rettl (Bocconi), Marco Cappelluti (UCL), and Catherine E. De Vries (Bocconi, presenter), “Geographies of Discontent: How Public Service Deprivation Increased Far-Right Support in Italy”

Abstract: Electoral support for far-right parties is often linked to specific geographies of discontent. We argue that public service deprivation, defined as reduced access to public services at the local level, helps explain these patterns in far-right support. Public service deprivation increases the appeal of far-right parties by making people more worried about immigration and […]

Chase Foster (Technische Universität München) and Jeffry Frieden (Harvard), “Compensation, Austerity, and Populism: Social Spending and Voting in 17 Western European Countries”

Abstract: There has been a dramatic rise in voting for populist parties in Europe over the past twenty years. There are clear material and non-material sources of this backlash against political and economic integration, which is part of the broader global trend. We assess the role of government social policy in dampening or provoking populist […]

Patrick Bayer (Strathclyde, presenter) and Federica Genovese (Essex), “Climate Policy Costs, Regional Identity and Backlash against International Cooperation”

Abstract: Scholars in international political economy are increasingly interested in how the sub- national patterns of major economic adjustments such as trade investment and environmental reforms fuel public opposition to international institutions that are meant to catalyze those adjustments. While the literature has sharpened the understanding of material policy costs and their implications for public […]

Kate McNamara (Georgetown), “The Politics of the New European Industrial Policy: How a Post-Neoliberal Shift Is Transforming the European Union”

Abstract: Markets require rules, made and enforced by governments, and modern market-making has therefore unfolded as an intrinsic part of state-building. While the European Union is not a Weberian state, it has not been immune to these processes. Over the last three decades it has constructed a Single European Market and a currency while building […]

Ed Mansfield (Penn, presenter) and Omer Solodoch (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Pandemic Protectionism: COVID-19 and the Rise of Public Opposition to Trade”

Abstract: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect public attitudes toward international trade? In this study, we argue that the pandemic promoted protectionist sentiment in the United States. Based on cross-sectional and panel data, we find a substantial increase in Americans’ opposition to trade following the outbreak of the pandemic. This heightened opposition was both long-lasting […]

Boram Lee (LSE), “Baptists and Bootleggers in Trade Politics: How Treaty Recognition Makes Side Agreements Credible”

Studies show that liberalizing governments include social and environmental clauses in trade agreements to gain pro-trade support from activists. However, these studies do not address how the government makes issue linkage credible to activists, who understand that the government has weak incentives to enforce such linkages once the agreement is ratified. How do liberalizing governments […]

Minju Kim (Syracuse, presenter) and Shu Fu (Chicago), “Bringing Home the Bacon: Politician Ambassadors and Home State Trade”

Abstract: Ambassadors promote domestic exports to a host country and represent the inter- est of their home country at large. However, are trade benefits equally distributed domestically? In the United States, a substantial number of ambassadors are former governors or legislators (“politician ambassadors”). We argue that politician ambas- sadors are particularly equipped with knowledge and […]

Sung Eun Kim (Korea), Rebecca Perlman (Princeton, presenter) and Grace Zeng (Princeton), “The Politics of Rejection: Explaining Chinese Import Refusals”

Abstract: Health and safety standards offer a convenient means by which governments can credibly claim to be protecting the population, even while pursuing less publicly- oriented goals. In the realm of international trade, such regulatory standards have most often been studied as a method of veiled protectionism that can help nations privilege domestic industry while […]

Siyao Li (Pittsburgh), Aditi Sahasrabuddhe (Brown, presenter), Scott Wingo (CACR), “The Limits Of Economic Statecraft: RMB Internationalization And The External Security Environment”

Abstract: Expanded use of the Chinese currency beyond China’s own borders is an important indication of China’s growing influence in global affairs. Contrary to earlier expectations however, China has only internationalized its currency, the renminbi (RMB), on a very limited scale. While this outcome is not altogether puzzling, we argue that the conventional wisdom on […]

Haillie Lee (Seoul National University) and Erik Voeten (Georgetown, presenter), “Transboundary Air Pollution and Hazy Accountability: Evidence from South Korea and China”

Abstract: Environmental problems often originate at least partially in other jurisdictions. We argue that trans- boundary pollution can increase public hostility towards the polluting country and break accountability links in the country that receives some of its pollution from abroad. We examine this argument in the context of trans-boundary air pollution in South Korea. South […]

Bobby Gulotty (Chicago, presenter) and Anton Strezhnev (Chicago), “The Political Benefits of the Monoculture: Estimating Political Manipulation in the Market Facilitation Program”

Abstract: Many redistributive programs use estimates of need to determine access. These esti- mates, in turn, depend on a formulaic combination of objective measures and subjective evaluations. Such formulas do not eliminate political influence, but instead force politicians to use industrial policy to target individuals by way of their positions as economic producers or consumers, […]

Chloe Ahn (UPenn) and Nina Obermeier (King’s College London, presenter), “Cryptocurrency and the State: Evidence from South Korea”

Abstract: National currencies regulated by state monetary authorities have long been associated with nation-state building and the expansion of state control. The rise of cryptocurrencies—that is, digital currencies outside of state control—has the potential to challenge the dominance of the state in this area and to disrupt state-society relations traditionally mediated through state-issued currencies. However, […]