4 ms·
Wow I really just read a .gov website trying to obscure a formula by multiplying 0.25 by 4. I'm stunned. https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calcul
by namaria 2y ago
Wow I really just read a .gov website trying to obscure a formula by multiplying 0.25 by 4.
I'm stunned.
https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations
"To calculate reciprocal tariffs, import and export data from the U.S. Census Bureau for 2024. Parameter values for ε and φ were selected. The price elasticity of import demand, ε, was set at 4.
Recent evidence suggests the elasticity is near 2 in the long run (Boehm et al., 2023), but estimates of the elasticity vary. To be conservative, studies that find higher elasticities near 3-4 (e.g., Broda and Weinstein 2006; Simonovska and Waugh 2014; Soderbery 2018) were drawn on. The elasticity of import prices with respect to tariffs, φ, is 0.25."
- oefrha 2y agoIn practice I believe at least 90% of Americans can’t figure out what that formula actually means; but if they drop the epsilon phi bullshit only 70% can’t figure it out. So it’s pretty effective obfuscation after all.
- stabbles 2y ago"Assuming that offsetting exchange rate and general equilibrium effects are small enough to be ignored" Yes, let's assume the world is constant and changes are made in isolation.
- ta1243 2y agoWhat's the laden velocity of a spherical import with no air resistance?
- giantrobot 2y agoAfrican or European?
- kragen 2y agoThank you for finding this. It's extremely valuable for those of us who are trying to make sense of the tariffs.
- myvoiceismypass 2y agoThis is the same president that took a sharpie to a map, to show the incorrect path of a storm, because he could not admit being wrong or making a mistake. These people are either malicious or incompetent. That's been the case for every single day of the decade-ish that Trump has been foisted upon us.