Classical Trade Protectionism 1815-1914

by Jean-Pierre Dormois

Including contributions from such figures as Douglas Irwin, James Foreman-Peck, Kevin O'Rourke and Max-Stefan-Schulze, this key book summarizes the recent empirical research carried out on the issue of the classical period of trade protectionism. It provides a basis for revising widely held views on the standard effects of tariffs on economic structures and progress, as well as a historical perspective on recent developments. Long-held views on modern trade policies have been challenged by the introduction of recent theoretical developments in international economics and in measurement techniques brought about in the 1960s and 70s. One question in particular has attracted attention and has contributed to the bringing to light of a number of previously ignored measurement and interpretation the assessment of French and British nineteenth century trade policies. This noteworthy volume examines the theoretical and practical problems associated with the assessment and measurement of the direct impact of tariffs, prohibitions and quotas on domestic prices, output structure and competitiveness. The contributors also examine the direct and long-run consequences of protectionist measures on particular economies, utilizing evidence from in-depth investigations of trade statistics as well as ‘best practice’ statistical techniques such as effective protection, elasticity of demand and revealed comparative advantage.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2006

Reviews

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice overview and collection of recent studies on trade and tariffs in the 19th century. It starts with the provocative paper by John Vincent Nye ‘The myth of free-trade Britain and fortress France’, where he shows that in terms of average tariff (calculated as import duty revenues divided by total imports) France wasn’t as protectionist as classical economic history claimed. In the mid-1860s its figures were even below that of the Great Britain. Then there follow several papers that discuss these results and show that:
- GB tariff were chiefly for exotic goods (tea, coffee, sugar) or alcohol (with local producers paying the same as excise tax, so they weren’t better off); France had much broader group of lower tariffs
- Average tariff is not the best way to measure whether county is a free trader or not
- Alternative measures could be used incl. disaggregation and contra-factual calculations, eg. CGE models
Second part discussed links between tariffs and growth, by looking on multi-country data as well as specific stories of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Balkans. Results range widely, from finding a strong positive correlation between higher tariffs and growth (Tariffs and growth in the late nineteenth century by Kevin H. O’Rourke), strong negative correlation between higher tariffs and growth (The role of open economy forces in Portugal and the Balkans, 1870–1913 by Pedro Lains), absence of any causal links, and absence of real protection e.g. in German case, were ‘union of rye and steel’ of protected industries hasn’t supported he most prominent German exports of the early 20th century – chemicals and machinery.