Changes in U.S. Tariffs: Prices or Policies?

Douglas Irwin

No 5665, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: F13 N72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1996-07
Note: ITI DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as American Economic Review (September 1998).

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