The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930, which raised U.S. duties on
hundreds of imported goods to record levels, is America''s most
infamous trade law. It is often associated with--and sometimes
blamed for--the onset of the Great Depression, the collapse of
world trade, and the global spread of protectionism in the 1930s.
Even today, the ghosts of congressmen Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley
haunt anyone arguing for higher trade barriers; almost
single-handedly, they made protectionism an insult rather than a
compliment. In Peddling Protectionism, Douglas Irwin
provides the first comprehensive history of the causes and effects
of this notorious measure, explaining why it largely deserves its
reputation for combining bad politics and bad economics and harming
the U.S. and world economies during the Depression.
In four brief, clear chapters, Irwin presents an authoritative
account of the politics behind Smoot-Hawley, its economic
consequences, the foreign reaction it provoked, and its aftermath
and legacy. Starting as a Republican ploy to win the farm vote in
the 1928 election by increasing duties on agricultural imports, the
tariff quickly grew into a logrolling, pork barrel free-for-all in
which duties were increased all around, regardless of the interests
of consumers and exporters. After Herbert Hoover signed the bill,
U.S. imports fell sharply and other countries retaliated by
increasing tariffs on American goods, leading U.S. exports to
shrivel as well. While Smoot-Hawley was hardly responsible for the
Great Depression, Irwin argues, it contributed to a decline in
world trade and provoked discrimination against U.S. exports that
lasted decades.
Peddling Protectionism tells a fascinating story filled
with valuable lessons for trade policy today.
"An astute and well-told account of a law more often invoked
than understood, Irwin''s examination of the Smoot-Hawley Act
explains how--for good or ill--Congress lost its credibility as a
maker of trade law. A valuable book for anyone who wants to
understand the Great Depression and whether it could come
back."--Eric Rauchway, author of Blessed Among Nations and
The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short
Introduction
"Douglas Irwin''s elegant and sophisticated account of the
Smoot-Hawley Tariff clears up some powerful and persistent myths.
As Irwin shows, the tariff didn''t begin with congressional
logrolling (though that contributed substantially to the eventual
outcome), it didn''t cause the stock market panic of October 1929,
and it didn''t cause the Great Depression (but neither did it
counteract deflation from abroad as some Keynesians and monetarists
have claimed). And many of the book''s details are fascinating and
even bizarrely amusing."--Harold James, Princeton University
"Economists and economic historians have closely examined the
Smoot-Hawley Tariff over the past few decades, but no one before
Douglas Irwin has pulled together such a wide-ranging body of
evidence to give us a solid and detailed understanding of the
passage and impact of the bill. Understanding the Great Depression
has become even more important since the global financial crisis,
and that makes this book very timely. Brief, accessible, and clear,
Peddling Protectionism should appeal to a wide range of
readers."--Robert Whaples, Wake Forest University
"It would not surprise me if this became the definitive economic
history of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Synthesizing and fleshing out
the best research and nicely connecting economics and politics,
Peddling Protectionism provides a fuller accounting of, and a
deeper perspective on, what is arguably the best-known U.S. tariff
of the twentieth century."--Kris Mitchener, Leavey School of
Business, Santa Clara University
