Economists Have Drawn the Wrong Lessons From the Failures of the 1930s. Tariffs are neither a panacea nor necessarily injurious. Their effectiveness, like that of any economic policy intervention, depends on the circumstances under which they are implemented. In the end, tariffs are simply one among many tools that can improve economic outcomes under some conditions and depress them under others. In an economy suffering from excess consumption, low savings, and a declining manufacturing share of GDP, the focus of economists should be on the causes of these conditions and the policies that might reverse them. Tariffs could be one such policy.

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