DP11835 When Britain turned inward: Protection and the shift towards Empire in interwar Britain

Author(s):	Alan de Bromhead, Alan Fernihough, Markus Lampe, Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke
Publication Date:	February 2017
Keyword(s):	interwar period, trade policy
JEL(s):	F13, F14, N74
Programme Areas:	International Trade and Regional Economics, Economic History
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11835

International trade became much less multilateral during the 1930s. Previous studies, looking at aggregate trade flows, have argued that discriminatory trade policies had comparatively little to do with this. Using highly disaggregated information on the UK's imports and trade policies, we find that policy can explain the majority of Britain's shift towards Imperial imports in the 1930s. Trade policy mattered, a lot.