Effectiveness Of Britain 's Trade Policy On Economic Recovery

In dealing with the economic depression of the 1930s, it is my opinion that the recovery of Britain was mainly due to the stages of rearmament in the run-up to the Second World War. This is not to say, however, that the National Government failed to combat the rises in unemployment, reaching a peak of three million, and the ruined staple industries, they implemented several policies to reboot the economy and lessen the impact on the people.

However, it wasn’t solely the government that was influencing the economy, there were other factors that played a vital role in Britain’s recovery too. For example, the expansion of the economy was mainly in new industries such as electrical engineering, which grew at between 4-5% per annum, and expanded so rapidly that in the 1930s electricity consumption per head of population increased by 70%. Furthermore, industries such as household electrical goods, cars, and transport flourished in parts of the south and midlands creating new jobs which gave people money to spend and created even more demand for new products. It is therefore arguable that it was new technology

Analyse the effects of domestic and global free trade and protection policies on the Australian economy

The 1922 Forney-McCumber Act was another policy that would lead to the Great Depression. This was based off of the idea of protectionism and a successor to the 1913 Underwood-Simmons Tariff. During the Great War, the agriculture industry enjoyed great prosperity due to the fact that the Americans were exporting large supplies of food to Europe (Kaplan). After the war, the output of American goods would decrease because Europe will no

Protectionism by way of the price mechanisms such as tariffs, subsides, quotas, export licences and import duties (Rugman, 2009) are just some of the measures which can seriously impact on a foreign company. For example the American steel industry was afforded protection under the Bush administration when large tariffs were imposed on foreign steel imports in order to safeguard the jobs of the national steel workers (Mankiw and Taylor, 2008).

While foreign nations set lower prices on their products to disrupt the American market, the government simply imposed taxes on foreign exports to promote people to purchase more domestic products. The process of putting lower prices in order to ruin the market was known as dumping. In order for the nation to survive, the Federal government had to heavily aid the weak and needed American economy through tariffs and taxes (Doc. D).In response to the crippling economy, the government imposed protective tariffs to boost the economy. Then, such support spurred new industrial developments such as new legal arrangements, improved transportations, and new schools that would educate the people (Doc. B). Furthermore, during the Embargo and War of 1812, the government heavily invested in canals, banks, railroads, and manufacturing to contribute to the industrial advancements and continue to improve the economy by creating new, American industries (Doc. I). With the support of both legislatures, people began to trust that the government imposes protective tariffs to protect its citizens’ rights. Moreover, protection of individual rights contributed to numerous inventions and new discoveries that led to industrial society in United States (Doc.

Tariffs like the Tariff of 1816 supposedly protected and helped Americans in the Industrial Revolution. The Tariff of 1816 put a tax on imported goods that would increase the cost of foreign goods and eliminate the price advantage. This tariff resulted in Americans not buying expensive goods. The Tariff of 1816 would essentially pay for internal improvements such as roads, canals, and lighthouses. The tariff increased the government income and encouraged domestic

Tariff fit into the story because it was a Republicans protective tariffs that helped build the United States economy. For instance, the steel and textile manufacturing

In modern economic policy of nations and states, the tariffs a tool to tax goods and services being imported. The principal desired outcome for this tool is to create security for the domestic industry from the imported product, which may be cheaper for consumers to purchase. (McEachern, 2015)

The effect of the war on the economy varied in scope and intensity from sector to sector. Trade was greatly affected by the war, both negatively and positively. Statistically, the rate of growth of export only slightly slowed down during the war (by 1% to the 1798-1802 period), the rate of re-exports doubled and there was a slight increase in imports, however this was only partly due to the war. The wars stimulated British trade, because they crippled England's continental competitors and because of the Royal Navy, Britain's commercial fleet had a monopoly on relations with non-European countries.

The quote, “Economists still agree that Smoot-Hawley and the ensuing tariff wars were highly counterproductive and contributed to the depth and length of the global Depression” (http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20130325a.htm) shows that the Americans original plan of protecting their own businesses only hindered them.

The “Great Recession” is commonly used to explain the massive economic contraction that occurred in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2007. However, the actions of the United States spanned to other nations, leaving massive effect on the global economy. One nation that took on serious financial burden during this recession was the United Kingdom. This nation first faced the effects of the Great Recession beginning in the first quarter of 2008. Overall, the initial mass effects on the nation can be attributed to the nation’s reliance on the financial sector. In fact, after partially stabilizing in 2009, the country struggled with a double-dip recession between 2010-12, and continues to struggle with some of these effects.

The United Kingdom finished World War I a few years prior to the Great Depression, and was a big factor in the length of the depression. The reason why the U.K’s depression’s length was so long was because of the debt that the European countries had grossed during World War I. This debt that had to be paid, left the Europeans in a sticky situation, as they tried to rebuild their economy to what it once was. The effect of this debt and other economic problems had caused the unemployment rate to accelerate from one million to 2.5 million unemployed UK citizens, some cities even reached rates from as high as 70%. When other countries received the hit from the depression, Britain couldn’t export nearly as much as they used to. This was a chain reaction that caused the world to be effected as a whole, and what caused Britain to get hit so strongly. Great Britain didn’t use their Government revenue expansion very strongly to an extent, however later on did increase the

Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, shows support for free trade and emphasises it as a trade policy which ought to be adopted. Krugman and Obstfeld back Smith's support by stating that the efficiency of trade is increased by free trade and accumulates the national income of countries. Free trade is a theory which suggests that each nation benefits in specialising in an economic activity from which it gains absolute advantage, enjoying absolute superiority over other nations in a specif economical activity (Peng). With free trade follows opportunity, replacing regulation and growth of economic activity. (Rugmann and Collinson).

The data set reveals several components about economic history. Primarily, it summarizes the economic state and growth of the British colonies through the various categories mentioned previously. By utilizing the reports over time, observations can be made about the economic and structural developments of the British colonies. The state of the British colonies