Editing Protectionism (section)

{{short description|Economic policy of regulating trade between states through government regulations}}
{{redirect|Protectionist}}
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[[File: Free Trade and Protection.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Political poster from around 1905 by the British [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] presenting their view of the differences between an economy based on [[free trade]] versus one based on protectionism. The free trade shop is shown as full of customers due to its low prices. The shop based on protectionism shows higher prices, a lesser selection of goods, and a lack of customers. Animosity between the "protected" business owner and the regulator is also depicted.]]
[[File:Anti Free Trade Postcard From 1910. (Corbis via Getty Images ; Getty Images).webp|upright=1.35|thumb|Anti-free trade postcard from 1910]]
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'''Protectionism''', sometimes referred to as '''trade protectionism''', is the [[economic policy]] of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as [[tariff]]s on imported goods, [[import quota]]s, and a variety of other government regulations. Proponents argue that protectionist policies shield the producers, businesses, and workers of the [[Import substitution industrialization|import-competing sector]] in the country from foreign competitors and raise [[government revenue]]. Opponents argue that protectionist policies reduce [[trade]], and adversely affect consumers in general (by raising the cost of imported goods) as well as the producers and workers in export sectors, both in the country implementing protectionist policies and in the countries against which the protections are implemented.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Brief History of Equality|first1=Thomas|last1=Piketty|access-date=January 5, 2024|date=April 19, 2022|publisher=Belknap Press|url=https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Equality-Thomas-Piketty-ebook/dp/B09LMS2TTB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DX899W7Q9YAC&keywords=a+brief+history+of+equality&qid=1704505570&sprefix=a+brief+history+of+equali%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1}}</ref>

Protectionism has been advocated mainly by parties that hold [[economic nationalist]]{{efn|Economic nationalism is an ideology that prioritizes [[Economic interventionism|state intervention]] in the economy, including policies like domestic control and the use of tariffs and restrictions on labor, goods, and capital movement.}} positions, while [[economically liberal]]{{efn|Economic liberalism is a [[List of political ideologies|political]] and [[economic ideology]] that supports a [[market economy]] based on [[individualism]] and [[private property]] in the [[means of production]].}} political parties generally support [[free trade]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Murschetz |first=Paul |title=State Aid for Newspapers: Theories, Cases, Actions |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-642-35690-2 |pages=64 |quote=Parties of the left in government adopt protectionist policies for ideological reasons and because they wish to save worker jobs. Conversely, right-wing parties are predisposed toward free trade policies.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Peláez |first=Carlos |title=Globalization and the State: Volume II: Trade Agreements, Inequality, the Environment, Financial Globalization, International Law and Vulnerabilities |publisher=[[Palgrave MacMillan]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-20531-4 |location=[[United States]] |pages=68 |quote=Left-wing parties tend to support more protectionist policies than right-wing parties.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mansfield |first=Edward |title=Votes, Vetoes, and the Political Economy of International Trade Agreements |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-691-13530-4 |page=128 |quote=Left-wing governments are considered more likely than others to intervene in the economy and to enact protectionist trade policies.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Warren |first=Kenneth |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior: A–M, Volume 1 |publisher=Sage|year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4129-5489-1 |pages=680 |quote=Yet, certain national interests, regional trading blocks, and left-wing anti-globalization forces still favor protectionist practices, making protectionism a continuing issue for both American political parties.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/the-end-of-reaganism-214853|title=The End of Reaganism|work=POLITICO Magazine|access-date=24 March 2017}}</ref>

There is a consensus among economists that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and economic welfare,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fairbrother|first=Malcolm|date=1 March 2014|title=Economists, Capitalists, and the Making of Globalization: North American Free Trade in Comparative-Historical Perspective|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=119|issue=5|pages=1324–1379|doi=10.1086/675410|pmid=25097930|s2cid=38027389|issn=0002-9602}}</ref><ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://piie.com/newsroom/short-videos/why-after-200-years-cant-economists-sell-free-trade|title=Economic Consensus On Free Trade|date=25 May 2017|work=PIIE|access-date=27 February 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Free Trade: Why Are Economists and Noneconomists So Far Apart?|journal=Review|volume=86|issue=5|last=Poole|first=William|doi=10.20955/r.86.1-6|year=2004|doi-access=free}}</ref> while free trade and the reduction of [[trade barrier]]s have a significantly positive effect on [[economic growth]].<ref name="nytimes.com">[[N. Gregory Mankiw|Mankiw, N. Gregory]] (24 April 2015). [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/upshot/economists-actually-agree-on-this-point-the-wisdom-of-free-trade.html?mcubz=0 "Economists Actually Agree on This: The Wisdom of Free Trade"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514014101/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/upshot/economists-actually-agree-on-this-point-the-wisdom-of-free-trade.html?mcubz=0 |date=14 May 2019 }}. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 10 August 2021. "Economists are famous for disagreeing with one another.... But economists reach near unanimity on some topics, including international trade."</ref><ref name="See P 1994" /><ref name="IGMFreeTrade">{{cite web|url=http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/free-trade|title=Free Trade|website=IGM Forum|date=13 March 2012|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref><ref name="Import Duties">{{cite web|url=http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/import-duties|title=Import Duties|website=IGM Forum|date=4 October 2016|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/trade-within-europe|title=Trade Within Europe|website=IGM Forum|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref><ref>[[William Poole (economist)|Poole, William]] (September/October 2004). [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.593.9688&rep=rep1&type=pdf "Free Trade: Why Are Economists and Noneconomists So Far Apart"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004118/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.593.9688&rep=rep1&type=pdf |date=7 November 2017 }}. ''Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review''. '''86''' (5): pp. 1–6. "... most observers agree that '[t]he consensus among mainstream economists on the desirability of free trade remains almost universal.'" Quote at p. 1.</ref> Many mainstream economists, such as [[Douglas Irwin]], have implicated protectionism as an important contributing factor in some economic crises, most notably the [[Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Peddling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression | last=Irwin | first = Douglas | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2017 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oz_BDgAAQBAJ | pages=vii–xviii| isbn=978-1-4008-8842-9 }}</ref> A more reserved perspective is offered by [[New Keynesian economics|New Keynesian]] economist [[Paul Krugman]], who argues that tariffs were not the main cause of the Great Depression but rather a response to it, and that protectionism is a minor source of allocative inefficiency.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/the-mitt-hawley-fallacy/ | title=The Mitt-Hawley Fallacy | date=4 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/hayek-trade-restrictions-and-the-great-depression/ | title=Hayek, Trade Restrictions, and the Great Depression | date=10 July 2010}}</ref> Although [[trade liberalization]] can sometimes result in unequally distributed losses and gains, and can, in the [[short run]], cause economic dislocation of workers in import-competing sectors,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Free Trade: Why Are Economists and Noneconomists So Far Apart?|journal=Review|volume=86|issue=5|last=Poole|first=William|quote=One set of reservations concerns distributional effects of trade. Workers are not seen as benefiting from trade. Strong evidence exists indicating a perception that the benefits of trade flow to businesses and the wealthy, rather than to workers, and to those abroad rather than to those in the United States.|doi=10.20955/r.86.1-6|year=2004|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Xiong 2012b 155">{{cite journal |first=Ping |last=Xiong |title=Patents in TRIPS-Plus Provisions and the Approaches to Interpretation of Free Trade Agreements and TRIPS: Do They Affect Public Health? |year=2012b|volume=46 |issue=1 |journal=Journal of World Trade |page=155|doi=10.54648/TRAD2012006 }}</ref> free trade lowers the costs of goods and services for both producers and consumers.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenfeld|first=Everett|date=11 March 2016|title=Here's why everyone is arguing about free trade|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/11/heres-why-everyone-is-arguing-about-free-trade.html|access-date=10 August 2021|agency=CNBC}}</ref>