It is an accepted view in the trade policy literature that those who lose from external trade are much more easily mobilized politically than those benefiting from it. As a consequence, the argument goes, there is an over-representation of protectionist interests in the political arena and a...

During the last two decades, the number of manufacturers in the European Union (EU) that have outsourced (part of their) production to low-wage countries has increased enormously. At the same time there are also still plenty of firms that produce their products (almost) entirely in the EU. This...