Do People Really Support Trade Restrictions? Cross-Country Evidence

We investigate the effect of trade restrictions on the perception of well-being. Using combined cross-sectional micro data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey of individuals in 89 countries, we find that citizens of a country with a lower degree of trade restrictions are more satisfied with their lives. The results are also robust across different measures of well-being, different definitions of trade restrictions, different estimation methods, and different sample sizes.