Patterns of Barriers to Trade in Sweden: A Study in the Theory of Protection

摘要

This paper studies the determinants of the inter-industry pattern of tariffs, non-tariff barriers to trade and domestic subsidies in Sweden, in the light of different hypotheses about causes of protection. The statistical results show that Swedish nominal and effective tariffs protect labor intensive industries in which protection is concentrated in large plants, that are not intensive in the use of skilled labor and research and development (R&D). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the general goal of trade policy is to diversify the industrial structure by compensating for high comparative costs. (Copyright (c) 1981 by The World Bank.)