The Expected Effects of Trade Liberalisation: Evidence from US Congressional Action on Fast-Track Authority

• Published in: World economy Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 725 - 740
• Main Authors: Kaempfer, William H., Marks, Stephen V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.1993; Basil Blackwell for the Trade Policy Research Centre, etc
• Subjects: Congress; Economic Policy; Economic theory; Federal legislation; Impacts; International Trade; Political behavior; Studies; Trade agreements; Trade liberalization; U.S.A; United States; United States > US; Mexico
• ISSN: 0378-5920; 1467-9701
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9701.1993.tb00193.x

Congressional votes to extend fast-track authority are examined in order to determine how participants in the political process expected that the authorization of new trade negotiations might affect the US distribution of income. This is accomplished through an econometric analysis of the economic factors related to the pattern of voting on fast track within each house of Congress. Most of the political controversy associated with the fast-track votes stemmed from the prospect of a free trade agreement with Mexico. The findings should be viewed as new evidence that factoral effects can be important in foreign-trade politics. The conclusions reached will largely depend on the legislation being studied - the granting of fast-track authority had potentially strong implications for the general factoral distribution of income in the US, while the potential effects of many previous pieces of trade legislation were largely confined to specific sectors.