The Price and Welfare Consequences of the British Sugar Act of 1846

Christopher David Absell

The Journal of Economic History, 2025, vol. 85, issue 1, 215-249

Abstract: Research on trade liberalization frequently overlooks the effects on third-party welfare. This paper studies a historically tragic third-party consequence of a special case of tariff reform: the British Sugar Act of 1846. Using a new database of monthly observations of prices and import volumes for the period 1840–1853, I estimate the price and welfare effects of the passage of the Sugar Act for consumers and colonial and noncolonial producers. Considerable consumption gains for British consumers and a reduced deadweight loss were derived from the intensification of trade with the slave economies.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jechis:v:85:y:2025:i:1:p:215-249_7

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