Tariff Incidence: Evidence from U.S. Sugar Duties, 1890-1930
Open accessAbstract
Direct empirical evidence on whether domestic consumers or foreign exporters bear the burden of a country's import duties is scarce.This paper examines the incidence of U.S. sugar duties using a unique set of high-frequency (weekly, and sometimes daily) data on the landed and the duty-inclusive price of raw sugar in New York City from 1890 to 1930, a time when the United States consumed more than 20 percent of world sugar production and was therefore plausibly a "large" country.The results reveal a striking asymmetry: a tariff reduction is immediately passed through to consumer prices with no impact on the import price, whereas about 40 percent of a tariff increase is passed through to consumer prices and 60 percent borne by foreign exporters.The apparent explanation for the asymmetric response is the asymmetric response of demand: imports collapse upon a tariff increase, but do not surge after a tariff reduction.
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- Authors
- Irwin, D.
- Affiliations
- Dartmouth College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Irwin, Douglas
- ORCID
- Irwin, Douglas
- Venue
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Publisher
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Published
- 2014-10
- OpenAlex
- W1942758002
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 2
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Global trade and economics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economics of Agriculture and Food Markets
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Historical Economic and Social Studies
- Keywords
- tariff incidence, sugar tariffs, tariffs, price transmission, consumer burden, foreign exporters, tariff reduction, tariff increases
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