Quitting globalization: Trade-related job losses, nationalism, and resistance to FDI in the United States

Yilang Feng, Andrew Kerner, Jane L. Sumner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)292-311
Number of pages20
JournalPolitical Science Research and Methods
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 6 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The European Political Science Association 2019.

Keywords

  • Experimental research
  • international political economy
  • public opinion

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