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Higher Tariffs, Lower Revenues? Analyzing the Fiscal Aspects of the "Great Tariff Debate of 1888"

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  • Douglas A. Irwin

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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6239
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    Cited by:

    1. Niklas Potrafke & Fabian Ruthardt & Kaspar Wüthrich, 2020. "Protectionism and Economic Growth: Causal Evidence from the First Era of Globalization," CESifo Working Paper Series 8759, CESifo.
    2. Jeffrey G. Williamson & Luis Bertola, 2003. "Globalization in Latin America Before 1940," NBER Working Papers 9687, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Douglas A. Irwin, 2019. "U.S. Trade Policy in Historical Perspective," NBER Working Papers 26256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Julia Cage & Lucie Gadenne, 2014. "Tax Revenues, Development, and the Fiscal Cost of Trade Liberalization, 1792-2006," Working Papers hal-03460586, HAL.
    5. Cagé, Julia & Gadenne, Lucie, 2018. "Tax revenues and the fiscal cost of trade liberalization, 1792–2006," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-24.
    6. Wolf, Nikolaus & Huning, Thilo, 2019. "How Britain Unified Germany: Trade Routes and the Formation of the Zollverein," CEPR Discussion Papers 13634, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Douglas A. Irwin, 2000. "Ohlin Versus Stolper-Samuelson?," NBER Working Papers 7641, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Austan Goolsbee, 1999. "Evidence on the High-Income Laffer Curve from Six Decades of Tax Reform," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 30(2), pages 1-64.
    9. McKenzie, David & Ozler, Berk, 2011. "The impact of economics blogs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5783, The World Bank.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. David McKenzie & Berk Özler, 2014. "Quantifying Some of the Impacts of Economics Blogs," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(3), pages 567-597.
    13. Muhammad Asif & Amjad Amin & Naila Nazir & Kashif Saeed & Sajjad Jan, 2022. "Role of tariffs, imports substitution and investment efficiency in economic growth of Pakistan," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2215-2232, August.
    14. 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.
    15. Douglas A. Irwin, 2000. "Tariffs and Growth in Late Nineteenth Century America," NBER Working Papers 7639, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Douglas A. Irwin, 2014. "Tariff Incidence: Evidence from U.S. Sugar Duties, 1890-1930," NBER Working Papers 20635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. repec:cte:whrepe:wh017204 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • 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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