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Welfare Effects of British Free Trade: Debate and Evidence from the 1840s

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Irwin, Douglas A

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Abstract

Classical economists engaged in a vigorous debate over whether Britain's tariff reductions in the 1840s should be made contingent on tariff liberalization abroad. Some, notably Robert Torrens, believed that a unilateral tariff reduction would so deteriorate British terms of trade as to outweigh efficiency gains and make the country worse off. In this paper, Britain's foreign trade elasticities are estimated for this period in a simultaneous equation model. They are used in a simple general equilibrium model that explicitly takes the terms of trade into account to assess the welfare impact of tariff reductions. The results indicate that Britain would have been made worse off from a unilateral tariff reduction. However, foreign tariff reductions mitigated the terms of trade deterioration and could easily have made Britain better off. Copyright 1988 by University of Chicago Press.

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Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Political Economy.

Volume (Year): 96 (1988)
Issue (Month): 6 (December)
Pages: 1142-64
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:96:y:1988:i:6:p:1142-64

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  1. Accominotti, Olivier & Flandreau, Marc, 2005. "Does Bilateralism Promote Trade? Nineteenth Century Liberalization Revisited," CEPR Discussion Papers 5423, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Rodney D. Ludema & Daniel E. Coates, 1998. "Unilateral Trade Liberalization as Leadership in Trade Negotiations," International Trade 9802002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  3. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2003. "Does Globalization Make the World More Unequal?," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 227-276 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  4. John H. Coatsworth & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "The Roots of Latin American Protectionism: Looking Before the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 8999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Mette Ejrnæs & Karl Gunnar Persson, 2005. "The Nature and Costs of Dis-Equilibrium Trade: The Case of Transatlantic Grain Exports in the 19th Century," Discussion Papers 05-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Mette Ejrnæs & Karl Gunnar Persson, 2006. "The Gains from Improved Market Efficiency: Trade Before and After the Transatlantic Telegraph," Discussion Papers 06-19, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "Mondialisation et inégalité : une longue histoire," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 16(1), pages 7-41. [Downloadable!]
  8. Yoshiaki Sugimoto, 2005. "Endogenous Globalization and Income Divergence," Development and Comp Systems 0503003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  9. N. F. R. Crafts & C. Knick Harley, 2002. "Precocious British Industrialization: A General Equilibrium Perspective," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 200213, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Tony Ward, 2004. "The Corn Laws and English wheat prices, 1815–1846," Atlantic Economic Journal, International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 32(3), pages 245-255, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. 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.). [Downloadable!]
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