Source Themes

Partisan Cycles in Offshore Outsourcing: Evidence from U.S. Imports

The wage and employment effects of offshoring roil politics in the United States and around the world. Firms that offshore either outsource their activities to unaffiliated businesses, or internalize production by establishing subsidiaries from which …

Competition Politics: Interest Groups, Democracy, and Antitrust Reform in Developing Countries

This article examines the political origins of antitrust enforcement in developing countries. I consider how the organization and political influence of business affects governments’ commitments to competition policy institutions. The analysis …

The Social Construction of Policy Reform: Economists and Trade Liberalization around the World

We argue that the global spread of ideas contributes to trade liberalization. Building on insights from a rich case-based literature, we suggest an explicit mechanism of trade policy diffusion: US-trained Ph.D. economists, who share a common belief …

Political Institutions and Property Rights: Veto Players and Foreign Exchange Commitments in 127 Countries

What political institutions improve property rights? Building on the work of North and Weingast, this article argues that institutional checks on policy-making discretion (“veto players”) improve the property rights of investors regarding the value …

National Competitiveness in Comparative Perspective: Evidence from Latin America

The term competitiveness is widely applied as a catch‐all for investor‐friendly policies and institutions. This article argues that sloppy applications of the term ignore the possibilities of policy tradeoffs and varieties of institutional choices. …