Showing papers by "Robert C. Feenstra published in 1992"

How Costly is Protectionism

Abstract: How costly is protectionism? This paper begins from a U.S. perspective, examining the costs to both the U.S. and other countries from U.S. protectionism. It emphasizes that substantial costs are imposed on foreign countries by U.S. protectionism. These costs result from the highly selective nature of protection in particular industries and against particular exporting countries. No discussion of the costs of protection would be complete without mentioning the increasing levels of investment by foreign firms within the U.S. economy. The paper next moves to a more global policy perspective. The emerging free trade areas in Europe, North America, and Asia raise the prospect of gains from trade within each region but also the possibility of global costs from protectionist actions across the regions.

Accounting for Growth with New Inputs

Abstract: In this paper we examine how to account for growth when new inputs are being created. In particular, we obtain a decomposition of growth into that due to a higher quantity of existing inputs, and that due to a greater range of inputs. This decomposition is first obtained for a single firm, with a CES production function. We then generalize to the GNP function of an economy. and again show how a decomposition of growth in GNP can be obtained. An example is presented of a two-sector economy, where new inputs are endogenously created each period, and a simple aggregate production function exists. Data for this economy are simulated, and the GNP function is estimated using various different measures of the factor inputs.