What's Wrong with Protectionism

What's Wrong with Protectionism PDF Author: Pierre Lemieux
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538122138
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
Putting tariffs on imported goods or setting other barriers to international trade can be tempting for politicians. They assume that many of their constituents believe that free trade is not fair trade and that other countries aren’t playing by the rules. This belief makes it easy for industry leaders to demand protection for their businesses and their workers—to “put America first.” But Americans should resist the siren calls of protectionism. In this highly relevant protectionism primer, Pierre Lemieux shows what can happen if they don’t. As the author demonstrates, trade between any two countries is fair for the same reasons as exchange between two individuals: it is to the benefit of both. Lemieux carefully refutes the arguments of those who would curtail Americans’ access to the benefits of international commerce—from the claim that we can boost economic growth by reducing imports to the belief that free trade leads to “shipping jobs overseas.” Yes, manufacturing jobs are declining in this country and have been since the 1950s. But, as Lemieux points out, that’s in large part because Americans are making more advanced products more efficiently—that’s our comparative advantage. And this is happening as less-developed countries are producing more labor-intensive, low-tech goods—that’s their comparative advantage. All parties to a trade benefit. Lemieux shows how free trade improves the lives of American consumers, especially the poor. The narrow agenda of the protectionists—to protect a small minority of producers at the expense of millions of their fellow Americans—is the wrong path for an increasingly diverse and complex economy. This concise primer shows you why.

What's Wrong with Protectionism

What's Wrong with Protectionism PDF Author: Pierre Lemieux
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538122138
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
Putting tariffs on imported goods or setting other barriers to international trade can be tempting for politicians. They assume that many of their constituents believe that free trade is not fair trade and that other countries aren’t playing by the rules. This belief makes it easy for industry leaders to demand protection for their businesses and their workers—to “put America first.” But Americans should resist the siren calls of protectionism. In this highly relevant protectionism primer, Pierre Lemieux shows what can happen if they don’t. As the author demonstrates, trade between any two countries is fair for the same reasons as exchange between two individuals: it is to the benefit of both. Lemieux carefully refutes the arguments of those who would curtail Americans’ access to the benefits of international commerce—from the claim that we can boost economic growth by reducing imports to the belief that free trade leads to “shipping jobs overseas.” Yes, manufacturing jobs are declining in this country and have been since the 1950s. But, as Lemieux points out, that’s in large part because Americans are making more advanced products more efficiently—that’s our comparative advantage. And this is happening as less-developed countries are producing more labor-intensive, low-tech goods—that’s their comparative advantage. All parties to a trade benefit. Lemieux shows how free trade improves the lives of American consumers, especially the poor. The narrow agenda of the protectionists—to protect a small minority of producers at the expense of millions of their fellow Americans—is the wrong path for an increasingly diverse and complex economy. This concise primer shows you why.

Resisting Protectionism

Resisting Protectionism PDF Author: Helen V. Milner
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691225281
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why didn't the protectionist spiral of the 1920s reappear in the 1970s in light of similar economic and political realities? In Resisting Protectionism, Helen Milner analyzes the growth of international economic interdependence and its effects on trade policy in the United States and France. She argues that the limited protectionist response of the 1970s stems from the growth of firms' international economic ties, which reduces their interest in protection by increasing its cost. Thus firms with greater international connections will be less protectionist than more domestically oriented firms. The book develops this thesis by examining the international ties of export dependence, multinationality, and global intra-firm trade. After studying selected U.S. industries, Milner also examines French firms to see if they respond to increased interdependence in the same way as American firms, despite their different historical, ideological, and political contexts.

Protectionism

Protectionism PDF Author: Jagdish N. Bhagwati
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262521505
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Through a combination of text, quotations, cartoons, tables, charts, and graphs, Bhagwati ... looks at the forces for and against protection."--Jacket.

America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914

America's Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914 PDF Author: Michael Hudson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783980846684
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book Here

Book Description
The contribution of the American School of Political Economy (1848 to 1914) to America's wildly successful industrial development has disappeared from today's history books. American protectionists and technology theorists of the day were concerned with securing an economic competitive advantage and conversely, with offsetting the soil depletion of 19th century America's plantation export agriculture. They also emphasized the positive effect of rising wage levels and living standards on the productivity that made the American economic takeoff possible. The American School's "Economy of High Wages" doctrine stands in contrast to the ideology of free traders everywhere who accept low wages and existing productivity as permanent and unchanging "givens," and who treat higher consumption, health and educational standards merely as deadweight costs. Free trade logic remains the buttress of today's financial austerity policies imposed on debtor economies by the United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. By contrast, the lessons of the American School of Political Economy can provide a more realistic and positive role model for other countries to emulate - what the United States itself has done, not what its condescending "free-trade" diplomats are telling them to do. The lesson is to adopt the protectionist policies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that made America an economic superpower. Michael Hudson (Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City) is a frequent contributor to The Financial Times, Counterpunch, and Global Research.

The Protectionist

The Protectionist PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Protectionism
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Protectionist

The Protectionist PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Protectionism
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Get Book Here

Book Description
A monthly magazine of political science and industrial progress.

The Limits of Protectionism

The Limits of Protectionism PDF Author: Michael Lusztig
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using a wide-ranging array of case studies, Michael Lusztig reveals how governments can eliminate obstacles to free trade and enjoy continued economic growth without fear of protectionist groups seeking revenge at the ballot box.

Classical Trade Protectionism 1815-1914

Classical Trade Protectionism 1815-1914 PDF Author: Jean-Pierre Dormois
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134262957
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 447

Get Book Here

Book Description
Including contributions from such figures as Douglas Irwin, James Foreman-Peck, Kevin O'Rourke and Max-Stefan-Schulze, this key book summarizes the recent empirical research carried out on the issue of the classical period of trade protectionism. It provides a basis for revising widely held views on the standard effects of tariffs on economic structures and progress, as well as a historical perspective on recent developments. Long-held views on modern trade policies have been challenged by the introduction of recent theoretical developments in international economics and in measurement techniques brought about in the 1960s and 70s. One question in particular has attracted attention and has contributed to the bringing to light of a number of previously ignored measurement and interpretation problems: the assessment of French and British nineteenth century trade policies. This noteworthy volume examines the theoretical and practical problems associated with the assessment and measurement of the direct impact of tariffs, prohibitions and quotas on domestic prices, output structure and competitiveness. The contributors also examine the direct and long-run consequences of protectionist measures on particular economies, utilizing evidence from in-depth investigations of trade statistics as well as ‘best practice’ statistical techniques such as effective protection, elasticity of demand and revealed comparative advantage.

The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism, and the Crisis

The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism, and the Crisis PDF Author: Richard E. Baldwin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781907142239
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Get Book Here

Book Description
The global financial crisis of 2008/9 is the Great Depression of the 21st century. For many though, the similarities stop at the Wall Street Crash as the current generation of policymakers have acted quickly to avoid the mistakes of the past. Yet the global crisis has made room for mistakes all of its own. While governments have apparently kept to their word on refraining from protectionist measures in the style of 1930s tariffs, there has been a disturbing rise in "murky protectionism." Seemingly benign, these crisis-linked policies are twisted to favour domestic firms, workers and investors. This book, first published as an eBook on VoxEU.org in March 2009, brings together leading trade policy practitioners and experts - including Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Initially its aim was to advise policymakers heading in to the G20 meeting in London, but since the threat of murky protectionism persists, so too do their warnings.

Peddling Protectionism

Peddling Protectionism PDF Author: Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400888425
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
A history of America's most infamous tariff The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930, which raised U.S. duties on hundreds of imported goods to record levels, is America's most infamous trade law. It is often associated with—and sometimes blamed for—the onset of the Great Depression, the collapse of world trade, and the global spread of protectionism in the 1930s. Even today, the ghosts of congressmen Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley haunt anyone arguing for higher trade barriers; almost single-handedly, they made protectionism an insult rather than a compliment. In Peddling Protectionism, Douglas Irwin provides the first comprehensive history of the causes and effects of this notorious measure, explaining why it largely deserves its reputation for combining bad politics and bad economics and harming the U.S. and world economies during the Depression. In four brief, clear chapters, Irwin presents an authoritative account of the politics behind Smoot-Hawley, its economic consequences, the foreign reaction it provoked, and its aftermath and legacy. Starting as a Republican ploy to win the farm vote in the 1928 election by increasing duties on agricultural imports, the tariff quickly grew into a logrolling, pork barrel free-for-all in which duties were increased all around, regardless of the interests of consumers and exporters. After Herbert Hoover signed the bill, U.S. imports fell sharply and other countries retaliated by increasing tariffs on American goods, leading U.S. exports to shrivel as well. While Smoot-Hawley was hardly responsible for the Great Depression, Irwin argues, it contributed to a decline in world trade and provoked discrimination against U.S. exports that lasted decades. Peddling Protectionism tells a fascinating story filled with valuable lessons for trade policy today.