Loading Events

Alessandro Barattieri (Collegio Carlo Alberto)

6 November 2017 @ 12:45

 

  • Past event

Details

Date:
6 November 2017
Time:
12:45
Event Category:
Event Tags:

“Protectionism and the Business Cycle”

Abstract

We study the consequences of protectionism for macroeconomic fluctuations. First, using high frequency trade-policy data, we present fresh evidence on the dynamic effects of temporary trade barriers. Estimates from country-level and panel VARs show that protectionism acts as a supply shock, causing output to fall and inflation to rise in the short run. Moreover, protectionism has at best a small positive effect on the trade balance. Second, we build a small-open economy model with firm heterogeneity, endogenous tradability, and nominal rigidity to study the channels through which protectionism affects aggregate fluctuations. The model successfully reproduces the VAR evidence and highlights the importance of both macro and micro forces for the contractionary effects of tariffs. We then use the model to study scenarios where temporary trade barriers have been advocated as potentially beneficial, including recessions with binding constraints on monetary policy easing or in the presence of a fixed exchange rate. Our main conclusion is that, in all the scenarios we consider, protectionism is not an effective tool for macroeconomic stimulus and/or to promote rebalancing of external accounts.