The Optimal Tax on Antebellum U.S. Cotton Exports

Irwin, Douglas A.

doi:10.3386/w8689

Cited by 2 publications

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References 19 publications

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“…An export tax that would have been the most direct manner in which the country might have increased the price of its cotton on world markets. Irwin (2003b) estimates that the export demand elasticity for U.S. cotton was about -1.7 and therefore the hypothetical optimal export tax would have been about 50 percent. Such a tax would have raised welfare by about 0.3 percent of GDP, or about 1 percent of the South's GDP, a relatively small amount.…”

Section: Stern Magee Usitcmentioning

confidence: 99%

U.S. Trade Policy in Historical Perspective

Irwin¹

2019

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This survey reviews the broad changes in U.S. trade policy over the course of the nation's history. Import tariffs have been the main instrument of trade policy and have had three main purposes: to raise revenue for the government, to restrict imports and protect domestic producers from foreign competition, and to reach reciprocity agreements that reduce trade barriers. These three objectives -revenue, restriction, and reciprocity -accord with three consecutive periods in history when one of them was predominant. The political economy of these tariffs has been driven by the interaction between political and economic geography, namely, the location of trade-related economic interests in different regions and the political power of those regions in Congress. The paper also addresses the impact of trade policies on the U.S. economy, such as the welfare costs of tariffs, the role of protectionism in fostering American industrialization, and the relationship between the Smoot-Hawley tariff and the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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Section: Stern Magee Usitcmentioning

confidence: 99%

U.S. Trade Policy in Historical Perspective

Irwin¹

2019

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“… 10 General discussions from different perspectives include Taussig (1931), O'Rourke (2000), and Irwin (2003b, 2007). General equilibrium models of the Americans include Temin (1971a), James (1978, 1981b), Harley (1992b), and Williamson (1974).…”

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confidence: 99%

American Exceptionalism as a Problem in Global History

Allen¹

2014

J. Econ. Hist.

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The causes of the United States’ exceptional economic performance are investigated by comparing American wages and prices with wages and prices in Great Britain, Egypt, and India. American industrialization in the nineteenth century required tariff protection since the country's comparative advantage lay in agriculture. After 1895 surging American productivity shifted the country's comparative advantage to manufacturing. Egypt and India could not have industrialized by following American policies since their wages were so low and their energy costs so high that the modern technology that was cost effective in Britain and the United States would not have paid in their circumstances.

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The Optimal Tax on Antebellum U.S. Cotton Exports

Cited by 2 publications

References 19 publications

U.S. Trade Policy in Historical Perspective

U.S. Trade Policy in Historical Perspective

American Exceptionalism as a Problem in Global History

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