ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part focuses on the attitudes and communications of businessmen on foreign economic policy. A large portion of our concern was with the manner in which the economic interests of a firm, however defined, were converted into political and economic policy on the national level. The economists were instructed to ignore any generalized benefits which might diffuse to all sections of the economy as a result of increased foreign trade and concentrate only on the immediate, direct interest of the industry in question. The categories into which they were asked to sort these industries were: high-tariff interest, low-tariff interest, mixed interest, and no perceivable direct interest. There was a natural tendency for busy executives to shunt interviewers off toward the "man concerned with foreign trade".
