Protectionism by Any Other Name
January 25, 2009 by
Filed under Tips
The Baseline Scenario submits:
By James Kwak
One thing you can probably get 99% of economists to agree on is that a global trade war in the middle of a global recession is a bad idea. If every country increases import tariffs, hoping to protect its domestic industry from foreign competition, global trade will fall in all directions, hurting everybody. Put another way, increased tariffs are a negative-sum game.