Salvation by good works? Offshoring, corporate philanthropy, and public attitudes toward trade policy

Kerner, Andrew; Sumner, Jane Lawrence

doi:10.1111/ecpo.12146

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Some recent work on trade preferences finds that mention of China or exposure to import competition from China can activate protectionist attitudes (e.g. Dorn et al, 2020 ; Kerner & Sumner, 2020 ; Kerner et al, 2020 ). Digital privacy is closely connected to support for trade wars with China, insomuch as U.S. legislators –- especially on the right –- have accused China of intellectual property theft and corporate espionage.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can IOs influence attitudes about regulating “Big Tech”?

Chapman

2023

Rev Int Organ

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Can international organizations (IOs) influence attitudes about regulating “Big Tech?” Recent tech sector activity engenders multiple concerns, including the appropriate use of user data and monopolistic business practices. IOs have entered the debate, advocating for increased regulations to protect digital privacy and often framing the issue as a threat to fundamental human rights. Does this advocacy matter? We hypothesize individuals that score high on measures of internationalism will respond positively to calls for increased regulation that come from IOs and INGOs. We further predict Liberals and Democrats will be more receptive to IO and NGO messaging, especially when it emphasizes human rights, while Conservatives and Republicans will be more receptive to messaging from domestic institutions that emphasize antitrust actions. To assess these arguments, we fielded a nationally-representative survey experiment in the U.S. in July 2021 that varied the source and framing of a message about the dangers posed by tech firms, then asked respondents about support for increased regulation. The average treatment effect of international sources is largest for respondents who score high on an index of internationalism and for respondents on the left of the political spectrum. Contrary to expectations, we found few significant differences across human rights and anti-trust framings. Our results suggest the ability of IOs to influence attitudes about tech regulation may be limited in an era of polarization, but that individuals who value multilateralism may still be influenced by IO campaigns. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11558-023-09490-8.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can IOs influence attitudes about regulating “Big Tech”?

Chapman

2023

Rev Int Organ

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“…10 Margalit (2012). 11 Kerner and Sumner (2019). 12 See, for example, Rho and Tomz (2017), Slothuus and De Vreese (2010), Hiscox (2006), and Ardanez, Murillo, and Pinto (2013), and citations therein.…”

Section: Trade Preferences and Sensitivities To Primingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pandya and Venkatesen (2016), for example, find that Americans’ consumption decisions track with the global politics of the day. Beyond Kerner and Sumner (2019), we know of no work that explores if and how the consumer experience affects political beliefs.…”

Section: Trade Preferences and Sensitivities To Primingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Offshore production's effect on Americans’ attitudes toward trade

Kerner¹,

Sumner²,

Richter³

2020

Bus. Polit.

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American discontent with offshore production features heavily in trade policy debates. But Americans more typically encounter offshore production in apolitical contexts as consumers. We argue that these ostensibly apolitical encounters with offshore production are, in fact, freighted with political consequences. This paper asks: When and for whom does consumer-based exposure to offshore production reduce support for free trade? This is an important in its own right, but also sheds light on the contexts in which more overtly political references to offshore production are likely to find the most fertile ground. We answer these questions using a survey experiment that embeds an offshoring “prime” into an advertisement for pet furniture, varying the location of production across different treatment groups. We find that our experimental exposure to offshore production depressed enthusiasm for free trade, but only when production occurred in China, and mainly among white men living near trade-related job loss. That heterogeneity resonates with work on the economic and social aspects of the decline in American manufacturing employment.

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“…Even without profit, there are many reasons why companies may opt to involve themselves in public services. There is some evidence, for instance, that it may help with reputation management (Kerner and Sumner, 2020;Sumner, 2022). It may be also be useful for advertising, public relations, and employee recruitment and retention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The political consequences of corporate donations for public service provision

McCarty,

Sumner

2024

Bus. Polit.

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Companies often donate to support public service delivery in US cities. Although this can help alleviate budgetary struggles for those governments, it is unclear what effect it may have on the individual residents receiving the services. In this paper, we argue that people who receive services funded in part by corporate donations are less likely to hold their local governments accountable if the services are of poor quality, because they no longer conceive of themselves as being the sole set of interests the government is catering to. We test our theory using a survey experiment with a realistic fictional government email and find evidence that, when compared with people receiving strictly taxpayer-funded services, people who are told services are provided in part by companies are less likely to take the quality of services into account when they vote.

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Salvation by good works? Offshoring, corporate philanthropy, and public attitudes toward trade policy

Cited by 5 publications

References 75 publications

Can IOs influence attitudes about regulating “Big Tech”?

Can IOs influence attitudes about regulating “Big Tech”?

Offshore production's effect on Americans’ attitudes toward trade

The political consequences of corporate donations for public service provision

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