Volume 3, No. 1, April 2004
The Determinants of US Congressional Voting on the Trade and Development Act of 2000


Baban Hasnat*

Department of Business Administration and Economics , State University of New York College at Brockport , U.S.A.



Charles Callahan, III**

Department of Business Administration and Economics, State University of New York College at Brockport , U.S.A.



Abstract


The paper provides an empirical examination of the determinants of support for the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA2000) in the United States Congress. We estimate a logistic regression model and control for both economic and political influences. We find that business political action committee contributions to lawmakers, the percentage of the African-American population in their constituency, the percentage of the Hispanic population in their constituency, and the skill level of the constituents had a significant positive influence on lawmakers voting in favor of TDA2000. Democratic party affiliation, import-competing industries in the constituency, and labor union membership had a significant negative influence on the TDA2000 vote.


Key words : trade and development act of 2000; trade bill; trade policy;

congressional voting

JEL classification : D72; F13

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