Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17765
Authors: Pim de Zwart; Markus Lampe; Kevin O'Rourke
Abstract: There has still been too little detailed work on the protectionism that emerged in the wake of the Great Depression. In this paper we explore the experiences of two countries that have been largely neglected in the literature, the Netherlands and Netherlands East Indies (NEI). How did these traditionally free- trading economies respond to the Depression? We construct a detailed product-level database of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade based on primary sources. While ad valorem tariff increases in the Netherlands were largely due to deflation, the country protected agriculture and textiles in a number of ways. Once quotas are taken into account, trade restrictiveness indices suggest that protection in the Netherlands and NEI was comparable to protection in the UK and India respectively. The NEI quota system was largely geared to protecting Dutch exporters, and succeeded in doing so, but the reverse was not true.
Keywords: tariffs; quotas; discrimination; empire; netherlands; indonesia; interwar period
JEL Codes: N74; N75; F13; F54
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Deflation (E31) | Increase in ad valorem tariffs (H25) |
| Increase in ad valorem tariffs (H25) | Real protective effect influenced by price changes (D11) |
| Specific tariffs (F19) | Greater protective impact (D18) |
| Quota system in NEI (F16) | Increase in share of Dutch imports (F10) |
| Quota system in NEI (F16) | Decrease in Japanese imports (F69) |
| Trade restrictiveness indices (F14) | Comparison of protectionist measures between countries (F14) |