THE POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF NONTARIFF BARRIERS - A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

Nontariff barriers to trade are most pervasive when deteriorating macr oeconomic conditions give rise to demands for protection by pressure g roups, when countries are sufficiently large to give policymakers ince ntives to impose protection, and when domestic institutions enhance th e ability of public officials to act on these incentives. Statistical results based on a sample of advanced industrial countries during the 1980s support the argument that the incidence of nontariff barriers te nds to be greatest when the preferences of pressure groups and policym akers converge. More attention should be devoted to the interaction be tween societal and statist factors in cross-national studies of trade policy.