IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlawec/v38y1995i2p335-66.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economics and Politics: The Case of Sugar Tariff Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Ellison, Sara Fisher
  • Mullin, Wallace P

Abstract

We study Congressional voting on sugar tariff reform in 1912 to investigate theories of constituent influence on trade policy. In this setting, consumer interest enjoyed substantial political efficacy. Moreover, since a variety of producer interest competed in the political marketplace, we can evaluate which producer interest were most effective. We explore these issues by integrating two techniques drawn from economics and political science, overcoming some common problems encountered in political economy research. We first conduct an event study to ascertain the relative incidence and importance of legislative events. We then conduct a roll call regression on congressional votes to determine legislator responsiveness to different interest groups. We find that wealthy and concentrated groups, especially shareholders, were not influential. Large, unconcentrated groups, in particular beet sugar laborers and sugar beet and sugarcane farmers, were the most influential producer groups. Strikingly, these latter groups were created by prior protective tariffs. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellison, Sara Fisher & Mullin, Wallace P, 1995. "Economics and Politics: The Case of Sugar Tariff Reform," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 335-366, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:38:y:1995:i:2:p:335-66
    DOI: 10.1086/467335
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/467335
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/467335?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irwin, Douglas A, 1994. "The Political Economy of Free Trade: Voting in the British General Election of 1906," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(1), pages 75-108, April.
    2. Peltzman, Sam, 1984. "Constituent Interest and Congressional Voting," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 181-210, April.
    3. Fama, Eugene F, et al, 1969. "The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Grossman, Gene M & Levinsohn, James A, 1989. "Import Competition and the Stock Market Return to Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1065-1087, December.
    5. Denzau, Arthur & Riker, William & Shepsle, Kenneth, 1985. "Farquharson and Fenno: Sophisticated Voting and Home Style," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(4), pages 1117-1134, December.
    6. Peltzman, Sam, 1985. "An Economic Interpretation of the History of Congressional Voting in the Twentieth Century," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 656-675, September.
    7. Schwert, G William, 1981. "Using Financial Data to Measure Effects of Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 121-158, April.
    8. George L. Mullin & Joseph C. Mullin & Wallace P. Mullin, 1995. "The Competitive Effects of Mergers: Stock Market Evidence from the U.S. Steel Dissolution Suit," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(2), pages 314-330, Summer.
    9. Ball, Clifford A. & Torous, Walter N., 1988. "Investigating security-price performance in the presence of event-date uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 123-153, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lowell Johnson, 1997. "The Lighthouse Reform Movement in Antebellum America," Departmental Working Papers 199703, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    2. David Genesove & Wallace Mullin, 1999. "The Sugar Institute Learns to Organize Information Exchange," NBER Chapters, in: Learning by Doing in Markets, Firms, and Countries, pages 103-144, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Benjamin Bridgman & Shi Qi & James A. Schmitz, 2015. "Cartels Destroy Productivity: Evidence from the New Deal Sugar Manufacturing Cartel, 1934-74," Staff Report 519, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    4. Benjamin H. Liebman & Kasaundra M. Tomlin, 2007. "Steel safeguards and the welfare of U.S. steel firms and downstream consumers of steel: a shareholder wealth perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(3), pages 812-842, August.
    5. Rucker, Randal R. & Thurman, Walter N. & Yoder, Jonathan K., 1999. "An Economic Analysis Of The Determinants Of Lumber Futures Price Movements," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21706, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Marín Uribe, Pedro Luis, 2001. "Exclusive Contracts and Market Power: Evidence from Ocean Shipping," CEPR Discussion Papers 2828, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Joseph C. Mullin & Wallace P. Mullin, 1996. "United States Steel's Acquisition of the Great Northern Ore Properties: Vertical Foreclosure or Efficient Contractual Governance?," NBER Working Papers 5662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Pedro L. Marín & Richard Sicotte, 2003. "Exclusive Contracts And Market Power: Evidence From Ocean Shipping," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 193-214, June.
    9. Douglas A. Irwin, 2014. "Tariff Incidence: Evidence from U.S. Sugar Duties, 1890-1930," NBER Working Papers 20635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bohara, Alok K. & Camargo, Alejandro Islas & Grijalva, Therese & Gawande, Kishore, 2005. "Fundamental dimensions of U.S. trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 93-125, January.
    2. Rucker, Randal R. & Thurman, Walter N. & Yoder, Jonathan K., 1999. "An Economic Analysis Of The Determinants Of Lumber Futures Price Movements," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21706, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. K. Chau & S. Wong & C. Yiu & Maurice Tse & Frederik Pretorius, 2010. "Do Unexpected Land Auction Outcomes Bring New Information to the Real Estate Market?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 480-496, May.
    4. Huang, Yi & Lin, Chen & Liu, Sibo & Tang, Heiwai, 2023. "Trade networks and firm value: Evidence from the U.S.-China trade war," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. Javid, Attiya Yasmin, 2009. "The Response of the Pakistani Stock market to a Cataclysmic Event," MPRA Paper 37565, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. AitSahlia, Farid & Yoon, Joon-Hui, 2016. "Information stages in efficient markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 84-94.
    7. Lazarus Angbazo & Anthony Saunders, "undated". "The Effect of TBTF Deregulation on Bank Cost of Funds," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 97-25, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    8. Robert Lowry, 1998. "Religion and the demand for membership in environmental citizen groups," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 223-240, March.
    9. Aktas, Nihat & de Bodt, Eric & Cousin, Jean-Gabriel, 2007. "Event studies with a contaminated estimation period," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 129-145, March.
    10. Kothari, S. P., 2001. "Capital markets research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 105-231, September.
    11. Li, Wei & Qiang, Christine Zhen-Wei & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2005. "Regulatory Reforms in the Telecommunications Sector in Developing Countries: The Role of Democracy and Private Interests," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1307-1324, August.
    12. Andrew N. Greenland & Mihai Ion & John W. Lopresti & Peter K. Schott, 2020. "Using Equity Market Reactions to Infer Exposure to Trade Liberalization," NBER Working Papers 27510, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Stephen Kawas & Everton Dockery, 2023. "What do we know about the stock markets’ reaction to regulatory announcements regarding financial institutions? Evidence from UK financial institutions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 31-67, January.
    14. Carl Lin, 2011. "Give me your wired and your highly skilled: measuring the impact of immigration policy on employers and shareholders," Working Papers 2011/17, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    15. Chortareas, Georgios & Cipollini, Andrea & Eissa, Mohamed Abdelaziz, 2012. "Switching to floating exchange rates, devaluations, and stock returns in MENA countries," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 119-127.
    16. Jean-Michel Josselin & Alain Marciano, 2000. "Displacing your Principal. Two Historical Case Studies of Some Interest for the Constitutional Future of Europe," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 217-233, November.
    17. O. Emre Tokel & M. Eray Yucel, 2009. "Click to Download Data : An Event Study of Internet Access to Economic Statistics," Central Bank Review, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22.
    18. Manoj Anand & Jagandeep Singh, 2018. "Impact of Automobile Regulations on Shareholders’ Wealth: Indian Empirical Evidence," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 17(1), pages 28-40, June.
    19. Lin, Carl, 2012. "Less Myth, More Measurement: Decomposing Excess Returns from the 1989 Minimum Wage Hike," IZA Discussion Papers 6269, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Cunha, P.A.M.F.V., 2005. "The value of cooperation : Studies on the performance outcomes of interorganizational alliances," Other publications TiSEM 59466e6c-1920-461e-b5e9-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:38:y:1995:i:2:p:335-66. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.