Trade Policy Disaster
Trade Policy Disaster
复制标题
贸易政策灾难
DOI：
10.7551/mitpress/8886.001.0001
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发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
D. Irwin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Irwin
最近的经济危机——股市暴跌，多家银行倒闭，金融危机蔓延，产出下降，失业率上升——让人想起了大萧条（Great Depression）。20世纪30年代的大萧条以保护主义贸易政策的蔓延为标志，这导致了世界贸易的崩溃。尽管政策制定者今天声称他们将抵制保护主义的诱惑，但衰退是经济民族主义的滋生地，各国可能仍会考虑设置更高的贸易壁垒。在《贸易政策灾难》（Trade Policy Disaster）一书中，道格拉斯•欧文（Douglas Irwin）审视了我们对上世纪30年代创伤期贸易政策的了解，并思考了我们可以从当时的政策失误中学到什么。欧文认为，20世纪30年代极端保护主义的出现，是政策制定者不愿放弃金本位、不愿允许本币贬值的结果。通过排除汇率变动作为一种调整机制，政策制定者转而采取提高关税和其他限制进口的手段。他对以下主题进行了清晰而简洁的阐述：更高的贸易壁垒对世界贸易崩溃的影响；1930年《斯穆特-霍利关税法》的影响；一些国家采取了严厉的贸易限制（包括外汇管制和进口配额），而另一些国家没有这样做的原因；优惠贸易安排和双边结算协定对世界贸易多边体制的影响；以及避免未来贸易战的教训。
The recent economic crisis--with the plunge in the stock market, numerous bank failures and widespread financial distress, declining output and rising unemployment--has been reminiscent of the Great Depression. The Depression of the 1930s was marked by the spread of protectionist trade policies, which contributed to a collapse in world trade. Although policymakers today claim that they will resist the protectionist temptation, recessions are breeding grounds for economic nationalism, and countries may yet consider imposing higher trade barriers. In Trade Policy Disaster, Douglas Irwin examines what we know about trade policy during the traumatic decade of the 1930s and considers what we can learn from the policy missteps of the time. Irwin argues that the extreme protectionism of the 1930s emerged as a consequence of policymakers' reluctance to abandon the gold standard and allow their currencies to depreciate. By ruling out exchange rate changes as an adjustment mechanism, policymakers turned instead to higher tariffs and other means of restricting imports. He offers a clear and concise exposition of such topics as the effect of higher trade barriers on the implosion of world trade; the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930; the reasons some countries adopted draconian trade restrictions (including exchange controls and import quotas) but others did not; the effect of preferential trade arrangements and bilateral clearing agreements on the multilateral system of world trade; and lessons for avoiding future trade wars.