Higher Tariffs, Lower Revenues? Analyzing the Fiscal Aspects of “The Great Tariff Debate of 1888”
Abstract
After the Civil War, Congress justified high import tariffs (relative to their prewar levels)" as necessary in order to raise sufficient revenue to pay off the public debt. By the early 1880s the federal government was running large and seemingly intractable fiscal surpluses revenues" exceeded expenditures (including debt service and repurchases) by over 40 percent during that" decade. The political parties proposed alternative plans to deal with the surplus: the Democrats" proposed a tariff reduction to reduce customs revenue, the Republicans offered higher tariffs to" reduce imports and customs revenue. This paper examines this debate and attempts to determine" the revenue effects of the proposed tariff changes. The results indicate that the tariff and the price elasticity of U.S. import demand during the 1880s below the maximum revenue rate, and therefore a tariff reduction would have reduced customs" revenue.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
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Article provided by Cambridge University Press in its journal The Journal of Economic History.
Volume (Year): 58 (1998)
Issue (Month): 01 (March)
Pages: 59-72
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Douglas A. Irwin, 1997. "Higher Tariffs, Lower Revenues? Analyzing the Fiscal Aspects of the "Great Tariff Debate of 1888"," NBER Working Papers 6239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- N71 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2003. "Was It Stolper-Samuelson, Infant Industry or Something Else? World Trade Tariffs 1789-1938," NBER Working Papers 9656, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Douglas A. Irwin, 2000. "Ohlin Versus Stolper-Samuelson?," NBER Working Papers 7641, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Mihir A. Desai & Alexander Dyck & Luigi Zingales, 2004.
"Theft and Taxes,"
NBER Working Papers
10978, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Desai, Mihir A. & Dyck, Alexander & Zingales, Luigi, 2007. "Theft and taxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 591-623, June.
- Mihir A. Desai & Alexander Dyck & Luigi Zingales, 2003. "Theft and Taxes," International Tax Program Papers 0501, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, revised Dec 2004.
- Desai, Mihir & Dyck, Alexander & Zingales, Luigi, 2004. "Theft and Taxes," CEPR Discussion Papers 4816, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Douglas A. Irwin, 2000.
"Tariffs and Growth in Late Nineteenth Century America,"
NBER Working Papers
7639, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Douglas A. Irwin, 2001. "Tariffs and Growth in Late Nineteenth Century America," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 15-30, 01.
- Phillip Magness, 2009. "Constitutional tariffs, incidental protection, and the Laffer relationship in the early United States," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 177-192, June.
- Douglas A. Irwin, 2007. "Trade Restrictiveness and Deadweight Losses from U.S. Tariffs, 1859-1961," NBER Working Papers 13450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Antonio Tena Junguito, 2001.
"Measuring Protection Over Time. Revenue And Protective Products In The 19th Century European Tariff Growth Debate,"
Working Papers in Economic History
wh017204, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones.
- Tena Junguito, Antonio, . "Measuring protection over time : revenue and protective products in the 19th century European tariff growth debate," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/399, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
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