Changes in U.S. Tariffs: Prices or Policies? / Douglas A. Irwin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Irwin, Douglas A.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5665.

NBER working paper series no. w5665

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Changes in U.S. Tariffs

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Summary:

In the century after the Civil War, roughly two-thirds of U.S. dutiable imports were subject to specific duties whose ad valorem equivalent was inversely related to the price level. This paper finds that import price fluctuations easily dominate commercial policies (changes in rates of import duty) in bringing about changes in the average U.S. tariff from 1865-1973. About three-quarters of the post-Smoot Hawley decline in U.S. tariffs, for example, can be attributed to higher import prices, the remainder to negotiated reductions in tariff rates.

Notes:

Print version record

July 1996.