Description
Economists examine local content requirements that many countries established to recover from the Great Recession of 2008-09 as an alternative to explicit tariffs to protect the local economy against foreign trade. A general survey is accompanied by case studies. Among the topics are the local content requirement phenomenon and alternatives to it, healthcare in Brazil, wind turbines in Canada, automobiles in China, solar cells and modules in India, oil and gas in Nigeria, and buy American/buy America. Annotation ©2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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In the wake of the Great Recession of 2008–09, economists feared that protectionist policies might sweep the world economy, echoing the wave of tariff escalations during the Great Depression of the 1930s. To some surprise, officials were more restrained and largely avoided traditional forms of protection (tariffs and quotas). As a result, economists underestimated the incidence of new protectionism because policymakers increasingly turned to more opaque behind-the-border nontariff barriers (NTBs).Using a combination of statistical analysis and case studies, the authors show that local content requirements (LCRs), a form of NTB, have become increasingly popular. How much was global trade actually reduced on account of LCRs? A conservative estimate might be $93 billion. Case studies featured cover the healthcare sector in Brazil, wind turbines in Canada, the automobile industry in China, solar cells and modules in India, oil and gas in Nigeria, and "Buy American" restrictions on government procurement.
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