Given the overriding importance of monetary and financial factors in bringing about the Great Depression, the Hawley-Smoot tariff almost surely played a relatively small role in the economic crisis. In 1929, dutiable imports constituted just 1.4 percent of GDP. It is hard to believe that an increase in the average tariff from 40 percent to 46 percent on those imports could lead to an economic collapse on the scale of the Great Depression. As we have seen in earlier chapters, there are no strong theoretical or empirical grounds for concluding that higher tariffs are driving factors in
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