PSRW

PSRW | Political Science Research Workshops

Please join us on Fridays 1:30-2:30 PM for the Political Science Research Workshop (PSRW).

PSRW provides an opportunity for faculty and graduate students to present and receive feedback on their work. Article manuscripts, dissertation chapters, book proposals, job market papers, and dissertation proposal drafts comprise the bulk of our presentations. Students who are on the job market and anticipate interviews in the near future may also present a practice job talk.

Upcoming Talk:

Andy Baker

Professor of Political Science (Purdue University)

"Do Workers Share Politicians’ Enthusiasm for Manufacturing Jobs? Experimental Evidence from the US"

Friday, March 23th 1:30-2:30 PM

Beering Hall 1255

Abstract

The view that manufacturing jobs are desirable and thus in need of subsidization or protection seems to be a rare point of consensus among politicians in the US. Yet do workers also subscribe to the mystique of manufacturing? We answer this question by conducting two conjoint survey experiments on a large sample of American workers. Study 1 estimates workers’ perceptions of the impact of manufacturing jobs on the need for trade protection and tax subsidization and on various outcomes for manufacturing workers, communities, and the country. Study 2 is a stated-preference experiment that discerns whether respondents are more or less likely to accept hypothetical job offers in the manufacturing sector. We find that US workers do not share the mystique of manufacturing with their leaders. They are not enthusiastic about working in factory jobs (compared to jobs in other sectors), and they do not see them to be yielding positive externalities. Despite this, they do want the government to intervene with protection or subsidization on behalf of factory job creation, but this is not because they see them to be of particular great private or public value. It is because they understand that, as producers of tradables, manufacturing jobs are at greater risk from global competition.