Overview

The Great Recession of 2008 - 9 caused a negative shock to the global economy that is comparable with the Great Depression of the 1930s, and with it came an uncertainty that was especially endemic to the early periods of the crisis. There was particularly acute uncertainty regarding trade policy. Could the modern trading system withstand such a devastating economic blow? Specifically, would governments live up to their early-crisis pledge to refrain from protectionism? While it is now unequivocal that the 2008 - 9 recession did not lead to a set of catastrophic protectionist policies on anywhere near the scale of the 1930s Great Depression, the facts simply do not support the idea that countries did not adjust their trade policies during this period. Many countries were quite active with their trade policy during the crisis. Policies like anti-dumping, safeguards and countervailing duties (CVDs) - referred to collectively as temporary trade barriers (TTBs) - played an important and perhaps even critical role. An understanding of the details of this activity is required in order to generate insight into how the trading system withstood the threat of collapse. This volume offers a collection of research that begins to fill a major information gap by providing empirical details of many of the important changes that took place under these trade policies during 2008 - 9. The contributors to this volume are Piyush Chandra, Lawrence Edwards, Moonsung Kang, Baybars Karacaovali, Rodney D. Ludema, Anna Maria Mayda, Michael O. Moore, Marcelo Olarreaga, Soonchan Park, Thomas J. Prusa, Raymond Robertson, Patricia Tovar, Marcel Valliant, Hylke Vandenbussche and Christian Viegelahn.

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9781907142383

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""Why didn't the global economic crisis of 2008-9 lead to a massive outbreak of protectionism? Chad P. Bown and his associates perform the great service of taking a very close look at trade policies around the globe to identify where trade barriers crept up and where they didn't. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in understanding why the world trading system survived the shock so well. At the same time, it reinforces the importance of careful monitoring of country trade policies."" Douglas A. Irwin, Robert E. Maxwell '23 Professor, Department of Economics, Dartmouth College ""With the onset of the Great Recession, the world trading system faced a defining moment. How has it performed? Answers to this question will be debated for years, but this timely volume takes a critical first systematic step in advancing our understanding of how countries did - and did not - respond to economic collapse with import restrictions. The editor has brought together a world-class team of empirical trade researchers to explore this question for eleven major developed and developing countries, and the result is a collection of studies rich in detail and subtle in implication that will help shape the research agenda on trade policy for years to come. This is a mustread volume for anyone interested in the world economy, researchers and policy-makers alike."" Robert W. Staiger, Holbrook Working Professor, Department of Economics, Stanford University ""The years 2008 and 2009 witnessed a financial crisis, but not a trade crisis and a protectionist tsunami, in sharp contrast to the 1930s. Why such a resilience of the world trade regime? This book focuses on the contribution of 'temporary trade barriers' (antidumping, antisubsidy and safeguard measures) to such a resilience. It covers eleven of the largest economies, relies on a massive effort to have the best data available and provides a subtle mix of economic and legal analyses. It is definitively a must for everybody who wants to understand our troubled times."" Patrick A. Messerlin, Professor of Economics, Groupe d'Economie Mondiale at Sciences Po

Why didn't the global economic crisis of 2008-9 lead to a massive outbreak of protectionism? Chad P. Bown and his associates perform the great service of taking a very close look at trade policies around the globe to identify where trade barriers crept up and where they didn't. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in understanding why the world trading system survived the shock so well. At the same time, it reinforces the importance of careful monitoring of country trade policies. Douglas A. Irwin, Robert E. Maxwell '23 Professor, Department of Economics, Dartmouth College With the onset of the Great Recession, the world trading system faced a defining moment. How has it performed? Answers to this question will be debated for years, but this timely volume takes a critical first systematic step in advancing our understanding of how countries did - and did not - respond to economic collapse with import restrictions. The editor has brought together a world-class team of empirical trade researchers to explore this question for eleven major developed and developing countries, and the result is a collection of studies rich in detail and subtle in implication that will help shape the research agenda on trade policy for years to come. This is a mustread volume for anyone interested in the world economy, researchers and policy-makers alike. Robert W. Staiger, Holbrook Working Professor, Department of Economics, Stanford University The years 2008 and 2009 witnessed a financial crisis, but not a trade crisis and a protectionist tsunami, in sharp contrast to the 1930s. Why such a resilience of the world trade regime? This book focuses on the contribution of 'temporary trade barriers' (antidumping, antisubsidy and safeguard measures) to such a resilience. It covers eleven of the largest economies, relies on a massive effort to have the best data available and provides a subtle mix of economic and legal analyses. It is definitively a must for everybody who wants to understand our troubled times. Patrick A. Messerlin, Professor of Economics, Groupe d'Economie Mondiale at Sciences Po

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