Data and Code for: Free Trade and the Formation of Environmental Policy: Evidence from US Legislative Votes

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Jevan Cherniwchan, McMaster University; Nouri Najjar, Western University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  data 05/01/2024 03:40:PM
  processed 05/02/2024 10:54:AM
  results 05/02/2024 02:26:PM
  scripts 01/20/2025 12:57:PM
readme_20Jan2025.pdf application/pdf 272.5 KB 01/20/2025 08:51:AM
run.do text/plain 2.7 KB 05/02/2024 10:27:AM

Project Citation: 

Cherniwchan, Jevan, and Najjar, Nouri. Data and Code for: Free Trade and the Formation of Environmental Policy: Evidence from US Legislative Votes. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-04-02. https://doi.org/10.3886/E201822V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We test the hypothesis that governments alter environmental policy in response to trade by studying NAFTA’s effects on the formation of environmental policy in the US House of Representatives between 1990 and 2000. We find that reductions in US tariffs decreased political support for environmental legislation. This decrease appears to be due to: (i) a reduction in support by incumbent Republican legislators in response to trade-induced changes in the policy preferences of their constituents, and (ii) changes in partisan representation in affected districts due to decreased electoral support for pro-NAFTA Democrats following the agreement.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) (430-2020-00663)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms NAFTA; trade liberalization; voting; environmental policy
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      F18 Trade and Environment
      F64 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Environment
      F68 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Policy
      Q56 Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
      Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1990 – 2000
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 2021 – 2024
Universe:  View help for Universe Congress people in the US House of Representatives; US voters
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data; geographic information system (GIS) data; observational data; other; survey data
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes This study only uses secondary data sources


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V1 [2025-04-02]

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