pursue domestic, economic and social policy goals even if the policies affect international
trade. The independent variables are chosen because of their hypothesize relationship
with that variable. Specifically, the findings of, and inferences from past studies and
existing theoretical literature provide the basis for the selection of the independent
variables in this study that structure the working hypotheses. However, in most cases, the
lack of studies that utilize behavioral data and examine their relationship to trade
restrictions, make predictions about the directions of the coefficients difficult. The
variables are discussed below.
In the case of education, this study hypothesizes that education increases the
farmer operator’s ability to get, process and use information (Asrat et al., 2004). Thus a
higher level of educational attainment helps farm operators understand the implications
and consequences of a policy that restricts trade to pursue domestic economic and social
policy goals particularly when that policy affects international trade. Such restriction
would serve to curb international trade volume and subject the countries restricting trade
to possible retaliation. Therefore the coefficient of the education variable is hypothesized
to have a negative sign.
The age of farm operators may be viewed as a composite that represents farming
experience and planning horizon. While beginning and probably younger farm operators
may view trade restriction as providing “protection” from international competition, older
farm operators, “with the benefit of time,” may have a better understanding of the
importance of agricultural trade to their agricultural balance sheets. Thus the influence of
age on “trade restriction” is an empirical question.
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