TY  - JOUR
AU  - Coatsworth,John H.
AU  - Williamson,Jeffrey G.
TI  - The Roots of Latin American Protectionism: Looking Before the Great Depression
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8999
PY  - 2002
Y2  - June 2002
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8999
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8999.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jeffrey G. Williamson
350 South Hamilton Street #1002
Madison, WI 53703
Tel: 608-441-0023
Fax: 608-204-0783
E-Mail: jwilliam@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - This paper uncovers a fact that has not been well appreciated: tariffs in Latin America were far higher than anywhere else in the century before the Great Depression. This is a surprising fact given that this region has been said to have exploited globalization forces better than most during the pre-1914 belle epoque and for which the Great Depression has always been viewed as a critical policy turning point towards protection and de-linking from the world economy. This paper shows that the explanation cannot lie with output gains from protection, since, while such gains were present in Europe and its non-Latin offshoots, they were not present in Latin America. The paper then explores Latin American tariffs as a revenue source, as a protective device for special interests, and as the result of other political economy struggles. We conclude by asking whether the same pro-protection conditions exist today as those which existed more than a century ago.
ER  -