Show Notes
How do tariffs work, who gains from them, and what costs do they impose? Frank W. Taussig offers a systematic account of customs duties, protection, free trade, and the economic forces that shape tariff policy.
Combining classical trade theory with historical and institutional analysis, Taussig examines domestic industry, prices, wages, comparative advantage, retaliation, revenue, and the political pressures behind protection. The result is a clear guide to the logic and practice of tariff systems—and to policy debates that continue wherever governments use trade barriers to pursue economic and political goals.
More from The Langenderfer Library: Classics in Tax, Economics, and Accounting
Who really pays local property taxes—the legal taxpayer, the tenant, the landowner, or the consumer? Lawson Purdy examines how taxes on land and buildings affect rents, property values, development, and the distribution of municipal burdens.
How should a nation distribute the heavy fiscal burden left by war? Alfred Marshall evaluates income taxation, taxes on capital and expenditure, and duties on imports while weighing revenue needs against equity, saving, production, and economic recovery.
How should local taxes be distributed, and who ultimately bears rates imposed on land, houses, and other property? Francis Y. Edgeworth answers questions posed by Britain’s Royal Commission on Local Taxation, translating principles of incidence and equitable sacrifice into practical policy analysis.
What role should an income tax play in repairing state revenue systems? Thomas S. Adams examines the weaknesses of the general property tax and considers how income taxation can improve fairness, reach forms of wealth that escape assessment, and provide a more workable basis for public revenue.
What determines the distribution of national income among workers, capitalists, and landowners? David Ricardo develops a systematic account of value, wages, profits, rent, trade, money, and taxation—placing distribution at the center of political economy.