Dumping and Subsidy Cases at the ITC: Voting Discretion and Commissioner Attributes

Douglas A. Brook, Naval Postgraduate School

Abstract

In antidumping and countervailing duty cases, why do commissioners of the International Trade Commission vote as they do? Political economy models have left an incomplete understanding of ITC voting and recent literature suggests there may be attributes of the commissioners that explain their behavior. This study of votes on antidumping and countervailing duty cases between 1992 and 1999 looks at five such attributes: political party, party of the appointing president, prior employment on Capitol Hill, profession as lawyers, and prior employement in business and labor organizations. Applying a statistical analysis reveals that, of these variables, only prior affiliation with busiess and labor organizations and political party appear related to ITC Commissioners' voting patterns.