Should Smaller Countries Be More Protectionist? The Diversification Motive for Tariffs

B-Tier
Journal: Review of International Economics
Year: 2014
Volume: 22
Issue: 4
Pages: 845-862

Authors (2)

James Gaisford (not in RePEc) Olena Ivus (Queen's University)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper examines the diversification motive for tariffs under trade-related uncertainty when there is incomplete international and domestic risk sharing. In the context of a two-country Ricardian continuum-of-sectors model with shocks to foreign technologies or preferences, tariffs allow a country to mitigate external risk by diversifying across sectors. Given sufficiently high risk and risk aversion, the optimality of tariffs depends primarily on a country's ability to diversify, rather than its market power, such that small countries gain most.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:reviec:v:22:y:2014:i:4:p:845-862
Journal Field
International
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-02-02