The Economics and Politics of Uniform Tariffs
Many policy economists advocate replacing a highly variegated structure of tariffs by a uniform tariff. This idea is not generally endorsed by academic economists. What are the sources of differences between these two camps and under what circumstances uniform tariffs can be justified is the subject of this paper. I conclude that the defense of a uniform-tariff regime lies in the politics of tariff making: the adoption of a uniform-tariff rule gives rise to a free-rider problem in lobbying resulting in reduced lobbying as well as a low level of protection.