Optimal Tariffs: Should Australia Cut Automotive Tariffs Unilaterally?

Peter Dixon and Maureen Rimmer

The Economic Record, 2010, vol. 86, issue 273, 143-161

Abstract: We derive formulas for the optimal tariff rate in four theoretical models. We start with a model in which industries are competitive and then successively allow for: monopoly pricing by export industries, revenue‐replacement costs and cold‐shower effects. The theoretical formulas accurately explain results from MONASH, a detailed computable general equilibrium model. A critical parameter in determining the optimal tariff is the export‐demand elasticity. Modellers are often reluctant to adopt empirically justifiable values for export‐demand elasticities because such values generate embarrassingly large optimal tariff rates. A way out of this dilemma is the adoption of a non‐linear cold‐shower specification.

Date: 2010
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2009.00599.x

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