[PDF] Trade Policy Disaster eBook

Author : Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 41,79 MB
Release : 2011-10-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0262297744

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The extreme protectionism that contributed to a collapse of world trade in the 1930s is examined in light of the recent economic crisis. The recent economic crisis—with the plunge in the stock market, numerous bank failures and widespread financial distress, declining output and rising unemployment—has been reminiscent of the Great Depression. The Depression of the 1930s was marked by the spread of protectionist trade policies, which contributed to a collapse in world trade. Although policymakers today claim that they will resist the protectionist temptation, recessions are breeding grounds for economic nationalism, and countries may yet consider imposing higher trade barriers. In Trade Policy Disaster, Douglas Irwin examines what we know about trade policy during the traumatic decade of the 1930s and considers what we can learn from the policy missteps of the time. Irwin argues that the extreme protectionism of the 1930s emerged as a consequence of policymakers' reluctance to abandon the gold standard and allow their currencies to depreciate. By ruling out exchange rate changes as an adjustment mechanism, policymakers turned instead to higher tariffs and other means of restricting imports. He offers a clear and concise exposition of such topics as the effect of higher trade barriers on the implosion of world trade; the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930; the reasons some countries adopted draconian trade restrictions (including exchange controls and import quotas) but others did not; the effect of preferential trade arrangements and bilateral clearing agreements on the multilateral system of world trade; and lessons for avoiding future trade wars.

Author : Richard E. Baldwin
Publisher :
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 39,3 MB
Release : 2011-03
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781907142239

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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.

Author : Richard S. Grossman
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 36,35 MB
Release : 2013
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0199322198

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The industrialized world has long been rocked by economic crises, often caused by policy makers who are guided by ideology rather than cold, hard analysis. WRONG examines the worst economic policy blunders of the last 250 years, providing a valuable guide book for policy makers... and the citizens who elect them.

Author : Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 873 pages
File Size : 39,81 MB
Release : 2017-11-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 022639901X

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A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year: “Tells the history of American trade policy . . . [A] grand narrative [that] also debunks trade-policy myths.” —Economist Should the United States be open to commerce with other countries, or should it protect domestic industries from foreign competition? This question has been the source of bitter political conflict throughout American history. Such conflict was inevitable, James Madison argued in the Federalist Papers, because trade policy involves clashing economic interests. The struggle between the winners and losers from trade has always been fierce because dollars and jobs are at stake: depending on what policy is chosen, some industries, farmers, and workers will prosper, while others will suffer. Douglas A. Irwin’s Clashing over Commerce is the most authoritative and comprehensive history of US trade policy to date, offering a clear picture of the various economic and political forces that have shaped it. From the start, trade policy divided the nation—first when Thomas Jefferson declared an embargo on all foreign trade and then when South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union over excessive taxes on imports. The Civil War saw a shift toward protectionism, which then came under constant political attack. Then, controversy over the Smoot-Hawley tariff during the Great Depression led to a policy shift toward freer trade, involving trade agreements that eventually produced the World Trade Organization. Irwin makes sense of this turbulent history by showing how different economic interests tend to be grouped geographically, meaning that every proposed policy change found ready champions and opponents in Congress. Deeply researched and rich with insight and detail, Clashing over Commerce provides valuable and enduring insights into US trade policy past and present. “Combines scholarly analysis with a historian’s eye for trends and colorful details . . . readable and illuminating, for the trade expert and for all Americans wanting a deeper understanding of America’s evolving role in the global economy.” —National Review “Magisterial.” —Foreign Affairs

Author : Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 15,15 MB
Release : 2015-06-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0691166250

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Growing international trade has helped lift living standards around the world, and yet free trade is always under attack. Critics complain that trade forces painful economic adjustments, such as plant closings and layoffs of workers, and charge that the World Trade Organization serves the interests of corporations, undercuts domestic environmental regulations, and erodes America's sovereignty. Why has global trade—and trade agreements such as NAFTA—become so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputation? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin sweeps aside the misconceptions that litter the debate over trade and gives the reader a clear understanding of the issues involved. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated to include the most recent policy developments and the latest research findings on the impact of trade.

Author : Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 50,70 MB
Release : 2017-10-24
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1400888425

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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.

Author : Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 45,11 MB
Release : 2020-04-14
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0691201005

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An updated look at global trade and why it remains as controversial as ever Free trade is always under attack, more than ever in recent years. The imposition of numerous U.S. tariffs in 2018, and the retaliation those tariffs have drawn, has thrust trade issues to the top of the policy agenda. Critics contend that free trade brings economic pain, including plant closings and worker layoffs, and that trade agreements serve corporate interests, undercut domestic environmental regulations, and erode national sovereignty. Why are global trade and agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputation? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin sweeps aside the misconceptions that run rampant in the debate over trade and gives readers a clear understanding of the issues involved. In its fifth edition, the book has been updated to address the sweeping new policy developments under the Trump administration and the latest research on the impact of trade.

Author : Edward Ray
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 19,40 MB
Release : 1989-12-11
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0313389519

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Ray presents a comprehensive review of U.S. trade policy since World War II, with particular emphasis on how that policy has affected developing countries. Special attention is given to trade policy shifts in the last twenty years in an attempt to determine whether or not U.S. trade concessions to developing countries contribute positively to their efforts to meet their considerable debt obligations. The author combines theoretical discussion with empirical data drawn from the seven leading debtor nations--Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, and Venezuela--in a provocative examination of the economic and sociopolitical causes and implications of changes in protectionism and the pattern of tariff and nontariff trade barriers in the last few decades. Following an introductory analysis of the history of protectionism in the United States, Ray explores the role of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after World War II in eliminating protection and the impact on developing countries of the changes in tariffs and in the use of nontariff trade barriers under the auspices of GATT. Subsequent chapters deal with such issues as the reasons for the adoption of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) adopted in 1975, the relationship between U.S. trade policies since 1975 and the world debt crisis, the reasons behind the adoption of the Caribbean Basin Initiative in 1983, and the 1985 revision of the GSP. A separate empirical chapter assesses the effects of the new GSP legislation on exports to the United States from developing countries in general and from the severely indebted seven in particular. The final chapter is organized around three major themes: the future course of U.S. trade policy, the likely impact of the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement on the United States and Canada, and the Uruguay Round negotiations and the implications of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 on trade between the United States and the debtor nations. Students of international business, international politics, and economic development will find Ray's analysis of the relationship between trade protectionism and world debt an important contribution to current debates on the causes, effects, and solutions to the Third World debt crisis.

Author : Simon J. Evenett
Publisher : CEPR
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 49,43 MB
Release : 2009
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1907142010

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The purpose of this book is to examine the various ways in which the existing manifestations of openness, including binding international accords, have constrained or enhanced the options available to national policymakers during the crisis and influenced the degree, and potentially even the effectiveness, of cross-border cooperation. By examining state responses during the crisis in a number of distinct policy domains, this approach may shed light on potential complementarities and tensions as governments seek to tackle sharp national recessions while being mindful of the growing role that the international dimension has played in influencing national economies in an era of globalization. In principle, such an examination may reveal that some permutations of national policy choices and international (trade and other) obligations offer greater potential than others, in turn providing information on the possible scope for both domestic reforms and the global trade architecture.