Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection

Vellore Arthi, Markus Lampe, Ashwin R Nair and Kevin O'Rourke

No 27178, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: What is the role of trade policy in promoting intra-Empire trade? We address the question in the context of interwar India, whose trade policies have been accused of harming British export interests. We quantify the impact of trade policy on the value and composition of Indian imports, using novel disaggregated data on both trade policies and imports for 114 commodity categories coming from 42 countries. We find that even though Indian protection lowered total imports, it substantially boosted imports from the UK. Despite the rising tariff barriers facing British exporters, trade diversion from other countries ensured that Indian trade policy benefited them overall.

JEL-codes: F13 F14 N75 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-int and nep-ore
Note: ITI
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Published as Vellore Arthi & Markus Lampe & Ashwin Nair & Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke, 2023. "Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection," The Economic Journal, vol 134(657), pages 23-47.

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Journal Article: Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection (2024)
Journal Article: Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection (2023)
Working Paper: Deliberate Surrender? The Impact of Interwar Indian Protection (2020)
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