What determines people's attitudes towards trade?

Abstract

Utilizando una regresión probit, se analizaron diferentes modelos a fin de determinar qué factores influyen en la actitud de las personas hacia el comercio para mejorar el desarrollo de políticas comerciales. El principal resultado de la investigación señala que la actitud de las personas hacia el comercio está principalmente influenciado por el interés económico propio más que por las percepciones sociotrópicas.

Based on cross-national data from The International 2013 Social Survey Programme (ISSP), different models were built and analysed using a probit regression in order to determine which factors motivate an individual’s attitude towards trade to improve the development of trade policies. The main finding of this research is that trade attitudes are driven by the individual´s economic self-interest rather than by sociotropic perceptions. The empirical analysis supports the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, finding that in skilled labour abundant countries skilled people are more pro-trade than unskilled people and the opposite for most of the unskilled labour abundant countries. This study also finds that other factors like relative income, upper social class, nationalism sentiments, and social values have a more influence on the individual´s attitude towards trade.