Lisa Dellmuth leads new ERC project investigating growing support for protectionism

Following a period of globalization, protectionist measures have become increasingly common over the past decade. Countries have introduced domestic subsidies, tariffs, and measures against labor immigration – measures that may benefit certain industries, but are likely to hinder growth, employment, and multilateral economic cooperation. The PROTECT project (Protectionism in Place: Explaining How Subnational Change Affects Public Support for Protectionism) aims to understand why some citizens support protectionism despite the fact that it is a policy that can be financially costly for them, and how their attitudes are influenced by local economic and socio-cultural changes as well as environmental changes.

“Understanding why people support protectionism is one of the most important questions of our time. Globalization has contributed to historic progress in poverty reduction and raised living standards globally. At the same time, it has created winners and losers – some groups and local communities have benefited, while others have been left behind,” says Lisa Dellmuth.

– In the project, I aim to understand how these distributional effects, combined with cultural and psychological factors, influence popular support for protectionism. The ERC funding will enable me to carry out the detailed, comprehensive analysis of local communities required to truly understand how attitudes towards protectionism emerge – and thereby gain a better understanding of the conditions for more effective and inclusive economic policies.

Read more about the project here