Money or ideology? Determinants of individual-level attitudes towards globalization and free-trade in Brazil

Abstract In this paper, we seek to explain the determinants of individual-level attitudes of Brazilians towards free-trade. We use national survey data collected by the project “O Brasil, as Américas e o mundo” and show that Brazilians support open trade. We argue that individual attitudes are guided by economic interests, ideational factors, and political values. The low exposure of the Brazilian economy to international competition seems to contribute to favorable opinions about access to imported goods. Ideological preferences, in turn, filter these perceptions regardless of the individual’s economic conditions. Overall, our results are similar to the findings of a broad literature on trade-policy preference in developed countries.