Reversing Protectionism: A First Look at Product-level Trade Data from Smoot-Hawley to the GATT

Abstract

This paper studies U.S. trade policy from the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs through the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Given the recent return to broad-based import protection policies, it is more important than ever that we understand the historical dynamics behind the U.S.’s largest trade liberalization in the last century. Our novel dataset of product-level tariff commitments and imports enables the first detailed empirical study of this dynamic period in trade policy, providing new stylized facts about U.S. tariffs and empirical evidence that changes in these tariffs are consistent with predictions from the terms-of-trade theory.

Kristy Buzard

Associate Professor of Economics

My current research focuses on the formation and maintenance of international trade agreements, conflict resolution, and innovation. I am particularly interested in the impact of international institutions, government structure and domestic political pressure on the possibilities for cooperation.