Learning to Love Globalization: Education and Individual Attitudes Toward International Trade Jens Hainmueller and Michael J.Hiscox Abstract Recent studies of public attitudes toward trade have converged on one central finding:support for trade restrictions is highest among respondents with the lowest levels of education.This has been interpreted as strong support for the Stolper- Samuelson theorem,the classic economic treatment of the income effects of trade that predicts that trade openness benefits those owning factors of production with which their economy is relatively well endowed(those with skills in the advanced economies)while hurting others (low-skilled workers).We reexamine the available survey data,showing that the impact of education on attitudes toward trade is almost identical among respondents in the active labor force and those who are not(even those who are retired).We also find that,while individuals with college-level educa- tions are far more likely to favor trade openness than others,other types of education have no significant effects on attitudes,and some actually reduce the support for trade,even though they clearly contribute to skill acquisition.Combined,these results strongly suggest that the effects of education on individual trade preferences are not primarily a product of distributional concerns linked to job skills.We suggest that exposure to economic ideas and information among college-educated individuals plays a key role in shaping attitudes toward trade and globalization.This is not to say that distributional issues are not important in shaping attitudes toward trade-just that they are not clearly manifest in the simple,broad association between education lev- els and support for free trade. A growing body of scholarly research has examined survey data on attitudes toward trade among voters,focusing on individual determinants of protectionist senti- ments.These studies have converged on one central finding:fears about the dis- tributional effects of trade openness among less-educated,blue-collar workers lie at the heart of much of the backlash against globalization in the United States and other advanced economies.Support for new trade restrictions is highest among The authors would like to thank James Alt,Jeffry Frieden,Robert Lawrence,Dani Rodrik,Ron Rogowski,Ken Scheve,Andy Baker,Peter Gourevitch,and Beth Simmons for helpful comments on earlier drafts. International Organization 60,Spring 2006,pp.469-498 2006 by The IO Foundation. D01:10.1017/S0020818306060140Learning to Love Globalization: Education and Individual Attitudes Toward International Trade Jens Hainmueller and Michael J. Hiscox Abstract Recent studies of public attitudes toward trade have converged on one central finding: support for trade restrictions is highest among respondents with the lowest levels of education. This has been interpreted as strong support for the Stolper￾Samuelson theorem, the classic economic treatment of the income effects of trade that predicts that trade openness benefits those owning factors of production with which their economy is relatively well endowed (those with skills in the advanced economies) while hurting others (low-skilled workers). We reexamine the available survey data, showing that the impact of education on attitudes toward trade is almost identical among respondents in the active labor force and those who are not (even those who are retired). We also find that, while individuals with college-level educa￾tions are far more likely to favor trade openness than others, other types of education have no significant effects on attitudes, and some actually reduce the support for trade, even though they clearly contribute to skill acquisition. Combined, these results strongly suggest that the effects of education on individual trade preferences are not primarily a product of distributional concerns linked to job skills. We suggest that exposure to economic ideas and information among college-educated individuals plays a key role in shaping attitudes toward trade and globalization. This is not to say that distributional issues are not important in shaping attitudes toward trade-just that they are not clearly manifest in the simple, broad association between education lev￾els and support for free trade. A growing body of scholarly research has examined survey data on attitudes toward trade among voters, focusing on individual determinants of protectionist senti￾ments. These studies have converged on one central finding: fears about the dis￾tributional effects of trade openness among less-educated, blue-collar workers lie at the heart of much of the backlash against globalization in the United States and other advanced economies. Support for new trade restrictions is highest among The authors would like to thank James Alt, Jeffry Frieden, Robert Lawrence, Dani Rodrik, Ron Rogowski, Ken Scheve, Andy Baker, Peter Gourevitch, and Beth Simmons for helpful comments on earlier drafts. International Organization 60, Spring 2006, pp. 469-498 ? 2006 by The IO Foundation. DOI: 10.1017/S0020818306060140