Trade, Protectionism, and the U.S. Economy: Examining the Evidence

[Abbott (POL)]

Trade, Protectionism, and the U.S. Economy: Examining the Evidence

by Robert Krol

Robert Krol is a professor of economics at California State University, Northridge.

Executive Summary

The expansion of international trade has provided considerable benefits to the United States and its trading partners. Yet the growth of trade also raises concerns about its impact on domestic firms and their workers.

This study surveys the economic research on the causes of expanded international trade, the benefits of trade, the impact of trade on employment and wages, and the cost of international trade restrictions. The findings include the following:

• Income growth accounts for two-thirds of the growth in global trade in recent decades, trade liberalization accounts for one-quarter, and lower transportation costs make up the remainder.
• Trade expansion has fueled faster growth and raised incomes in countries that have liberalized. A 1-percentage point gain in trade as a share of the economy raises per capita income by 1 percent. Global elimination of all barriers to trade in goods and services would raise global income by $2 trillion and U.S. income by almost $500 billion.
• Competition from trade delivers lower prices and more product variety to consumers. Americans are $300 billion better off today because of the greater product variety from imports.
• International trade directly affects only 15 percent of the U.S. workforce. Most job displacement occurs in sectors that are not engaged in global competition. Net payroll employment in the United States has grown by 36 million in the past two decades, alongside a dramatic increase in imports of goods and services.
• Expanding trade does not explain most of the growing gap between wages earned by skilled and unskilled workers. The relative decline in unskilled wages is mainly caused by technological changes that reward greater skills.
• Trade barriers impose large, net costs on the U.S. economy. The cost to the economy per job saved in protected industries far exceeds the wages paid to workers in those jobs.

Text of Trade Briefing Paper No. 28 (PDF, 16 pgs, 246kb)

http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-028.html

[ivanko]

Trade, Protectionism, and the U.S. Economy: Examining the Evidence

by Robert Krol

• Trade barriers impose large, net costs on the U.S. economy. The cost to the economy per job saved in protected industries far exceeds the wages paid to workers in those jobs.

http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-028.html

già, ma a quanto pare qualcuno è troppo affezzionato ai guadagni facili senza faticare. purtroppo di liberalismo si parla solo in due contesti:
nei giornali dove si dice che berlusconi è un liberalista () e quindi male
nelle lezioni di conomia (il grafico dei benefici dell'apertura delle barriere con prezzi e quantità, miglior allocazione delle risorse e vantaggi per il consumatore) e quindi per pochi

qualcosa non quadra

[Ronnie]

nei giornali dove si dice che berlusconi è un liberalista ()

peccato che non lo dicano nelle vignette satiriche, dove sarebbe anche divertente

ma si sa, in un paese dove giornali di partito mantenuti dallo stato spacciano per liberismo selvaggio anche un Tremonti non viene nemmeno più da piangere, ci siamo abituati

ci verranno a dire che Marx (non "max" come lo chiama il nano) fu un precursore storico del liberalismo Veltroniano del nuovo millennio, e saremo tutti d'accordo