Replication Data for: \"Preferences for Trading Partners: Evidence from Legislators and Citizens in Latin America\"

Replication files for a book chapter with Cambridge University Press. Many public opinion surveys show that most citizens view international trade favourably. However, differences emerge when asked about support for trade with specific countries, as people are more supportive of trade with some countries than with others. In other words, people have preferences for specific trading partners. Whereas citizens mostly only have an indirect influence on countries’ trade policy, political elites, such as legislators, have a direct say in these policies. Just as citizens, they also may prefer some potential trading partners to others. With this in mind, this contribution asks two related questions: what explains attitudes towards trade with different countries? And do the factors that determine trading partner preferences differ between citizens and political elites? We address these questions for the case of Latin American countries. Data from the Design of Trade Agreements (DESTA) project (Dür et al. 2014) show that these countries have been particularly active in forging trade agreements. Importantly, countries in Latin America have reached out to Western partners, such as the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), but also to non-Western countries, in particular China. Which entity becomes the major trading partner has important implications, as China, the EU, and the US put forward substantially different models of trade liberalization.

剑桥大学出版社（Cambridge University Press）一书章节的复现文件。多项民意调查显示，多数公民对国际贸易持支持态度。然而，当被问及对与特定国家开展贸易的支持度时，分歧便显现出来：民众对不同国家的贸易支持度存在差异。换言之，民众对特定贸易伙伴存在偏好。尽管民众对国家贸易政策大多仅具备间接影响力，但政治精英（如立法者）可直接参与这些政策的制定。与民众一样，这些政治精英也可能对特定潜在贸易伙伴存在偏好。基于此，本研究提出两个相关问题：哪些因素会影响民众对与不同国家开展贸易的态度？决定民众与政治精英贸易伙伴偏好的影响因素是否存在差异？本研究以拉丁美洲国家为研究对象解答上述问题。贸易协定设计（Design of Trade Agreements, DESTA）项目（Dür等人，2014）的数据显示，拉丁美洲国家在缔结贸易协定方面表现得尤为积极。值得注意的是，拉丁美洲国家不仅与美国（United States, US）、欧盟（European Union, EU）等西方伙伴开展经贸合作，也与非西方国家尤其是中国建立了贸易联系。究竟哪一主体成为主要贸易伙伴会产生重要影响，因为中国、欧盟与美国所推行的贸易自由化模式存在显著差异。