TY - JOUR
T1 - Quitting globalization
T2 - Trade-related job losses, nationalism, and resistance to FDI in the United States
AU - Feng, Yilang
AU - Kerner, Andrew
AU - Sumner, Jane L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The European Political Science Association 2019.
PY - 2019/6/6
Y1 - 2019/6/6
N2 - Existing research has found that American politicians benefit from trying to attract investment and creates jobs. In this paper, we build on this work by describing the drivers of Americans' attitudes toward inward foreign investment (FDI). We posit that foreign and Chinese investment are different than domestic investment in the public imagination and that nationalism and proximity to deindustrialization interact to shape public opinion about them. We propose and test two theories of this interaction using a survey experiment that randomizes whether a respondent is responding to a statement about business investment, foreign business investment, or Chinese business investment. We find that (1) Americans are skeptical of business investments by Chinese, and, to lesser degree, foreign firms; (2) the gap in enthusiasm for generic business investment and foreign/Chinese business investment rises with local trade-related job losses; and (3) the distinction between nationalists' and non-nationalists' attitudes toward FDI declines in local job losses.
AB - Existing research has found that American politicians benefit from trying to attract investment and creates jobs. In this paper, we build on this work by describing the drivers of Americans' attitudes toward inward foreign investment (FDI). We posit that foreign and Chinese investment are different than domestic investment in the public imagination and that nationalism and proximity to deindustrialization interact to shape public opinion about them. We propose and test two theories of this interaction using a survey experiment that randomizes whether a respondent is responding to a statement about business investment, foreign business investment, or Chinese business investment. We find that (1) Americans are skeptical of business investments by Chinese, and, to lesser degree, foreign firms; (2) the gap in enthusiasm for generic business investment and foreign/Chinese business investment rises with local trade-related job losses; and (3) the distinction between nationalists' and non-nationalists' attitudes toward FDI declines in local job losses.
KW - Experimental research
KW - international political economy
KW - public opinion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066822911&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85066822911&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/psrm.2019.30
DO - 10.1017/psrm.2019.30
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066822911
SN - 2049-8470
VL - 9
SP - 292
EP - 311
JO - Political Science Research and Methods
JF - Political Science Research and Methods
IS - 2
ER -