3 ms·
Tangentially (and as an armchair/hobby economist), I've always wondered if the proper way to do a protectionist import tariff would be to collect the import dut
by somethoughts 3y ago
Tangentially (and as an armchair/hobby economist), I've always wondered if the proper way to do a protectionist import tariff would be to collect the import duties and instead of just putting it into the general fund - either:
1.) Return the money to the country of origin via a blank check.
2.) Use the money to fund NGOs which help importers like Nike, etc. audit their foreign contract manufacturers for US level environmental regulations and labor regulations. This would reduce foreign countries from enabling arbitrage via lax regulation.
3.) Distribute the money equally to all tax paying US citizens via tax rebate or something.
I think the issue with globalization is that CEOs of multinationals are seen as the primary beneficiaries of environmental/labor arbitrage.
- hgomersall 3y agoBetter is to use it to subsidise other imports for which the import country is a price taker. The classic one would be oil and gas. Import tariffs free up import space which should be used wisely.
- somethoughts 3y agoWould be curious to hear more as I'm not sure I quite understand. I think the proposal seems like a more conventional proposal which seeks to maximize classical measures like overall global economic productivity and ignores the general domestic populace. It seems like that using import tariff duties to subsidize more imports would encourage more importation of goods by lowering the final cost to the end user. It would also likely just directly benefit the domestic importers and the foreign exporters. It would also further exacerbate the differential over domestic producers and domestic alternatives and do nothing to prevent economic/labor regulation arbitrage.
- hgomersall 3y agoIt's explicitly about stabilising prices of necessary goods for which a country is a price taker. Using luxury goods to stabilise the prices of necessary goods. Here's an analysis that raises it in the context of the broader problem: https://new-wayland.com/blog/the-uk-energy-crisis-mmt-analysis/ https://new-wayland.com/blog/the-uk-energy-crisis-mmt-analys...