Tariff protection in Sweden, 1885–1914

Abstract

This article presents disaggregated estimates of nominal and effective rates of tariff protection for Sweden during 1885–1914. In the methodological section of the article 1 argue that the proper way to measure tariff protection is an output-weighted average of tariff rates for a representative sample of commodities. In the empirical section, I show that Swedish tariff protection increased substantially in the period even though tariff income as a proportion of total imports decreased slightly. This seeming contradiction is explained by the restructuring of Swedish imports that took place in the period under review; the share in imports of highly protected consumer goods declined while the share of capital goods with lower protection rates and duty-free raw materials and input goods increased. The result stands in contradiction to some recent views expressed in the international literature.