What are the long-term implications of protectionism, as practised today in the developed market economies? Many economists argue that tariff and nontariff barriers to trade are harmful not only for the countries which face these barriers but also for the countries which impose them. So far the trade-negotiation experts have emphasized on how the protectionist policies followed by the industrially advanced countries lead to slow growth of exports from the developing countries and defeat their plan to achieve high rates of economic development. The time has come to demonstrate with equal force that the slow growth of· purchasing power which results from poor economic performance of the developing countries in the world markets should be a matter of great concern for the advanced countries facing domestic deflation in their over-protected economies.
May-June 1981, volume 5, No 5/6