IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgif/391.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Free trade at risk? An historical perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Douglas A. Irwin

Abstract

The recent theoretical literature on strategic trade policy suggests that government intervention in international trade has the potential to be welfare-improving, thus bringing into question the traditional economic case for free trade. Economists in the nineteenth century also argued about whether theoretical justifications for tariffs compromised the case for free trade. This paper discusses two older debates somewhat related to the current focus on strategic industries and reciprocity, and concludes with an observation about how developments in economic theory affect economists' view of policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas A. Irwin, 1990. "Free trade at risk? An historical perspective," International Finance Discussion Papers 391, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:391
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1990/391/default.htm
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/ifdp/1990/391/ifdp391.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Corden, W. Max, 1990. "Strategic trade policy : how new? how sensible?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 396, The World Bank.
    2. Krugman, Paul R, 1987. "Is Free Trade Passe?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 131-144, Fall.
    3. Jagdish Bhagwati, 1989. "Is free trade passé after all?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 125(1), pages 17-44, March.
    4. Irwin, Douglas A, 1988. "Welfare Effects of British Free Trade: Debate and Evidence from the 1840s," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(6), pages 1142-1164, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Douglas A. Irwin, 1991. "Retrospectives: Challenges to Free Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 201-208, Spring.
    2. Baldwin, Robert E, 1992. "Are Economists' Traditional Trade Policy Views Still Valid?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 804-829, June.
    3. Koichi Kagitani, 2009. "Political Economy Of Strategic Export Policy In A Differentiated Duopoly," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 60(2), pages 236-252, June.
    4. Kresimir Zigic, 2001. "Strategic Trade Policy, the "Committed" versus "Non-Committed" Government, and R&D Spillovers," Industrial Organization 0110005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Alfred Wong & Arthur Grimes, 1990. "Directors for tariff policy," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, vol. 53, june.
    6. Koichi Kagitani, 2008. "The Number Of Firms And The Politics Of Strategic Trade Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(1), pages 107-122, February.
    7. Corbo, Vittorio & Fischer, Stanley, 1991. "Adjustment programs and Bank support : rationale and main results," Policy Research Working Paper Series 582, The World Bank.
    8. Weck-Hannemann, Hannelore, 1989. "Protectionism in direct democracy," Discussion Papers, Series II 79, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    9. Margaret A. Walls, 1990. "Welfare Cost Of An Oil Import Fee," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(2), pages 176-189, April.
    10. Nouf Alsharif & Sambit Bhattacharyya & Maurizio Intartaglia, 2016. "Economic Diversification in Resource Rich Countries: Uncovering the State of Knowledge," Working Paper Series 09816, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Wolfgang Kerber & Oliver Budzinski, "undated". "Towards a Differentiated Analysis of Competition of Competition Laws," German Working Papers in Law and Economics 2004-1-1090, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    12. Emediegwu, Lotanna E. & Wossink, Ada & Hall, Alastair, 2022. "The impacts of climate change on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: A spatial panel data approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    13. Liviu-George Maha & Andreea-Nicoleta Donici & Andreea Maha, 2012. "Limits And Difficulties In Implementing The Strategic Trade Policy," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 4(4), pages 736-746, December.
    14. Andrea Maneschi, 2000. "How New is the "New Trade Theory" of the Past Two Decades?," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0027, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    15. Lorenza JACHIA & Ethél TELJEUR, 1999. "Free Trade Between South Africa And The European Union," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 141, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    16. D. Nayyar, 1996. "Free trade: why, when and for whom?," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 49(198), pages 333-350.
    17. Howard J. Shatz & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Exchange Rate Overvaluation and Trade Protection: Lessons from Experience," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 5, pages 115-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Singh, Ajit, 1995. "Close" vs. "Strategic" integration with the world economy and the "market friendly approach to development" vs. an "industrial policy," MPRA Paper 53562, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Alan V. Deardorff, 2004. "Who Makes the Rules of Globalization?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1301, CESifo.
    20. Erdenebat Bataa & Andrew Vivian & Mark Wohar, 2019. "Changes in the relationship between short‐term interest rate, inflation and growth: evidence from the UK, 1820–2014," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 616-640, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Free trade;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.