International Journal of Business and Economics 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.

Keywords：trade and development act of 2000, trade bill, trade policy, congressional voting.

JEL Classifications： D72, F13.

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