Protectionism in direct democracy

Arbeitspapier

Public choice theory provides arguments to explain why protectionism is prevalent all over the world. In this paper it is argued that even when citizens have the possibility to decide on trade barriers in direct democracy, tariffs are maintained or even increased. This result is traced to the process of drafting the proposal, the individual decision to participate in the vote and the efforts to become informed properly about the alternatives put to the vote. As first an empirical investigation is made to test the theoretical hypotheses about protectionism in direct democracy by using data for referendums in Switzerland.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Diskussionsbeiträge - Serie II ; No. 79

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Weck-Hannemann, Hannelore
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Universität Konstanz, Sonderforschungsbereich 178 - Internationalisierung der Wirtschaft
• (where): Konstanz
• (when): 1989

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/101472
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET