ALTERNATE APPROACHES TO THE POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF ENDOGENOUS TRADE LIBERALIZATION

Trade liberalization is puzzling from the perspective of standard poli tical economy models. Why would a government find it optimal to remove protection that it previously found optimal to impose? This paper rev iews two types of approaches to answering this question: Approaches th at view liberalization driven by strenghtened anti-protection forces, and approaches that view liberalization driven by an erosion of pro-pr otection forces.