Estimating the welfare costs of autarky: A sufficient statistics approach

C-Tier
Journal: Economics Letters
Year: 2020
Volume: 194
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

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

Abstract

This paper uses the Jeffersonian Embargo enacted in 1807 to estimate the welfare costs of autarky. I use an Armington trade model to compute the welfare losses using two sufficient statistics: the share of expenditures on domestic goods and the elasticity of substitution between domestic and imported goods. I use historical data from 1792 to 1807 to estimate the Armington elasticity, using import tariffs as instrument for relative prices. The empirical findings suggest welfare losses of 2.83–8.14% of real income.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecolet:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520302305
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25