Comparative Economic History

Hace unos meses hubo una conferencia en Harvard sobre "The New Comparative Economic History".   El programa y varios de los papers están disponibles en:

http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/conferences/economichistory/

 

Este es uno particularmente interesante:

http://papers.nber.org/papers/W12250

 

Democracy and Protectionism

Kevin H. O'Rourke, Alan M. Taylor

NBER Working Paper No. 12250,  May 2006, NBER Program(s):   DAE    ITI 
Abstract
Does democracy encourage free trade? It depends. Broadening the franchise involves transferring power from non-elected elites to the wider population, most of whom will be workers. The Hecksher-Ohlin-Stolper-Samuelson logic says that democratization should lead to more liberal trade policies in countries where workers stand to gain from free trade; and to more protectionist policies in countries where workers will benefit from the imposition of tariffs and quotas. We test and confirm these political economy implications of trade theory hypothesis using data on democracy, factor endowments, and protection in the late nineteenth century.