Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229577 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8759
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We investigate how protectionist policies influence economic growth. Our empirical strategy exploits an extraordinary tax scandal that gave rise to an unexpected change of government in Sweden. A free-trade majority in parliament was overturned by a protectionist majority in 1887. We employ the synthetic control method to select control countries against which economic growth in Sweden can be compared. We do not find evidence suggesting that protectionist policies influenced economic growth and examine channels why. Tariffs increased government revenue. However, the results do not suggest that the protectionist government stimulated the economy in the short-run by increasing government expenditure.
Subjects: 
protectionism
economic growth
first era of globalization
synthetic control method
causal inference
JEL: 
C33
D72
F10
F13
N10
O11
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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