Trade Policy Preferences and Individual Characteristics: Descriptive report of a survey on approximately 10,000 individuals (Japanese)

Protectionism prevails in the real world in spite of the strong support for free trade by economists. To gather information on trade policy preferences, we conduct a survey on approximately 10,000 individuals: a 1/10,000 microcosm of Japan. Descriptive results from the survey are summarized as follows: (a) Various individual characteristics, including not only occupation and industry but also income, education, age, gender, and foreign attachments, are related with trade policy preference. (b) Preference of import liberalization is generally correlated with the same individual's preference of other international economic policies, though some discrepancies are observed. (c) Behavioral factors, such as risk aversion, are partly related with policy preferences.