Niccolo W. Bonifai
Government Department, Georgetown University
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Niccolo W. Bonifai
Government Department, Georgetown University
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Georgetown University.
My research examines how globalization reshapes the distribution of power among key actors in domestic politics, namely the state, labor, and capital. Specifically, my dissertation addresses why many large, global firms have accepted the recent resurgence of protectionism, despite the established view in political economy that large firms benefit from open market policies and have outsized power over other interest groups to influence policy change. I am affiliated with the Lab for Globalization and Shared Prosperity and the Global Political Economy Project.
My research examines how globalization reshapes the distribution of power among key actors in domestic politics, namely the state, labor, and capital. Specifically, my dissertation addresses why many large, global firms have accepted the recent resurgence of protectionism, despite the established view in political economy that large firms benefit from open market policies and have outsized power over other interest groups to influence policy change. I am affiliated with the Lab for Globalization and Shared Prosperity and the Global Political Economy Project.
My research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Comparative Political Studies and International Studies Review and is conditionally accepted in the American Journal of Political Science. My work has also appeared in policy magazines such as Foreign Affairs.
DISSERTATION PROJECT
Large Firms, the State, and the New Politics of Globalization
Why are so many large, global firms silent in the face of recent protectionism? Prevailing research in political economy indicates that large, productive firms mobilize to promote and protect open markets. However, recent protectionist policies in advanced economies reveal a muted response by global firms. I argue that globalization reduces the incentives of global firms involved in Global Value Chains (GVCs) to protest protectionism. Global firms with access to geographically diversified networks of buyers and sellers have options to substitute between markets, reducing the imperative to lobby governments against protectionism or relocate. I test this argument by linking confidential transaction-level trade data to corporate resistance to a hard Brexit in the aftermath of the 2016 European Union membership referendum. Drawing on several measures of corporate resistance, including data on meetings with the government, earnings conference calls and interviews, I find that global firms that have the existing supply chain infrastructure to substitute away from Europe are less likely to mobilize on Brexit. While large firms continue to punch above their weight, carrying significant political influence, globalization has reshaped state-business relations.
DISSERTATION PROJECT
Large Firms, the State, and the New Politics of Globalization
Why are so many large, global firms silent in the face of recent protectionism? Prevailing research in political economy indicates that large, productive firms mobilize to promote and protect open markets. However, recent protectionist policies in advanced economies reveal a muted response by global firms. I argue that globalization reduces the incentives of global firms involved in Global Value Chains (GVCs) to protest protectionism. Global firms with access to geographically diversified networks of buyers and sellers have options to substitute between markets, reducing the imperative to lobby governments against protectionism or relocate. I test this argument by linking confidential transaction-level trade data to corporate resistance to a hard Brexit in the aftermath of the 2016 European Union membership referendum. Drawing on several measures of corporate resistance, including data on meetings with the government, earnings conference calls and interviews, I find that global firms that have the existing supply chain infrastructure to substitute away from Europe are less likely to mobilize on Brexit. While large firms continue to punch above their weight, carrying significant political influence, globalization has reshaped state-business relations.
