The Green Side of Protectionism: How Environmental Attitudes Shape Different Facets of Trade Policy Preferences

Abstract

Orthodox economic theory views individuals’ trade policy preferences as a function of the income effects of economic openness. We argue that the environmental consequences of free trade play a noteworthy and underappreciated role for protectionist attitudes as well and empirically explore the micro-level relationships between environmental concerns and trade policy preferences in Switzerland, one of the world’s most globalized countries. Overall, we find that stronger environmental concerns correlate with more protectionist attitudes. Individuals who are more concerned about the environment tend to more strongly support job-related protectionism and consider aspects that go beyond price and quality when evaluating foreign products. Our results suggest that environmental concerns can have effects on trade policy preferences that compare in size to variables capturing the income effects of intensified international economic exchange.