Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART ONE INTRODUCTION
- PART TWO INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY AND POLICY
- 2 Comparative Advantage and the Gains from Trade
- 3 Economic Efficiency and Comparative Advantage
- 4 Factor Endowments and Comparative Advantage
- 5 Factor Substitutiton and a Modified Ricardian Model
- 6 Factor Substitution and the Heckscher–Ohlin Model
- 7 Imperfect Competition and International Trade
- 8 Trade and Factor Movements
- 9 Instruments and Uses of Trade Policy
- 10 The Evolution of Trade Policy
- 11 The Future of the Trading System
- PART THREE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY THEORY AND POLICY
- Appendix A Mathematical Notes on Trade Theory and Policy
- Appendix B Mathematical Notes on Monetary Theory and Policy
- Appendix C Outlines of Answers to Selected Problems
- List of Abbreviations
- Index
10 - The Evolution of Trade Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART ONE INTRODUCTION
- PART TWO INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY AND POLICY
- 2 Comparative Advantage and the Gains from Trade
- 3 Economic Efficiency and Comparative Advantage
- 4 Factor Endowments and Comparative Advantage
- 5 Factor Substitutiton and a Modified Ricardian Model
- 6 Factor Substitution and the Heckscher–Ohlin Model
- 7 Imperfect Competition and International Trade
- 8 Trade and Factor Movements
- 9 Instruments and Uses of Trade Policy
- 10 The Evolution of Trade Policy
- 11 The Future of the Trading System
- PART THREE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY THEORY AND POLICY
- Appendix A Mathematical Notes on Trade Theory and Policy
- Appendix B Mathematical Notes on Monetary Theory and Policy
- Appendix C Outlines of Answers to Selected Problems
- List of Abbreviations
- Index
Summary
THE ISSUES
Chapter 9 reviewed some of the well-known arguments for restricting trade and showed why trade restrictions are inefficient policy instruments. It is often easier, however, to mobilize political support for trade restrictions than for more efficient policy instruments. There have been remarkable reductions in trade barriers since World War II, but the process of trade liberalization has encountered strong political resistance, and the opponents of liberalization have succeeded at times in halting or reversing the process. This chapter examines the long-term evolution of trade policy and deals with three issues:
How trade theory has influenced trade policy.
How the influence of trade theory has varied from time to time and place to place.
How trade liberalization has been organized and what it has achieved.
The next chapter will focus on recent developments, including attempts to broaden trade liberalization by extending it from goods to services and attempts to deepen it by forming regional trading blocs.
TARIFF THEORY AND TARIFF HISTORY
At one time or another, every argument for tariffs has been invoked in debates about trade policy. Tariff history is also the history of tariff theory and thus shows how theory can influence policy.
Divergent Trends: 1816–1860
During the first half of the nineteenth century, trade policy in the United States was dominated by the infant-industry argument, and tariffs rose more or less steadily. Trade policy in Great Britain was dominated by distributional arguments, and tariffs were reduced dramatically.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The International Economy , pp. 208 - 237Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000