Why Legislators are Protectionists: The Role of Majoritarian Voting in Setting Tariffs

Abstract

Based on the observation that industries are often geographically concentrated, this paper proposes a new political economy model of trade protection. We associate the sectors of a specific factors model with electoral districts populated by continua of heterogeneous voters who differ in their relative factor endowments. We show how strategic delegation leads each district to elect a representative who is more protectionist than the median voter. The legislature formed by these representatives then sets tariffs that are strictly positive. Introducing additional policy instruments reveals a trade-off between efficiency and regional targetability.

Keywords: Trade policy, political economy, representative democracy

JEL Classification: F10, F13, D72