Lobbying, Multisector Trade, and Sustainability of Free-Trade Agreements

This paper is concerned with the sustainability of free-trade agreements (FTA). FTA sustainability is influenced by governments' valuations of political contributions, discount factors, the lobbying position of the specific-interest groups in the intra-industry trade sectors, and the sectoral coverage of the FTA. I find that (i) under certain conditions, the FTA under protectionist lobbying could be more sustainable than the FTA under no political pressure; (ii) the lobby-supported FTA is more sustainable than the lobby-opposed FTA and the FTA under no political pressure; and (iii) multisector trade enhances FTA sustainability