Description
Economists have modelled the economic rationale for intra-industry trade, yet political scientists largely have neglected it until recently. Every Firm for Itself explores how dramatic shifts in the way countries trade have radically changed trade politics in the US and EU. It explores how electorally minded policymakers respond to heavy lobbying by powerful corporations and provide trade policies that further advantage these large firms. It explains puzzling empirical phenomena such as the rise of individual firm lobbying, the decline of broad trade coalitions, the decline of labor union activity in trade politics, and the rising public backlash to globalization due to trade politics becoming increasingly dominated by large firms. With an approach that connects economics and politics, this book shows how contemporary trading patterns among rich countries undermine longstanding coalitions and industry associations that once successfully represented large and small firms alike.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. The rise of intra-industry trade in the postwar trading regime; 3. The domestic politics of intra-industry trade: a theoretical model; 4. Cleavage and coalition in US trade politics; 5. Lobbying over trade policy in the European Union; 6. Intra-industry trade and protection in developed democracies; 7. The politics of TPP and TTIP in the United States; 8. Conclusion; Appendices.
