Protectionism Essays Examples

Thesis of the Research

Despite the fact that macroeconomic policies of the states become more and more reliant on the concepts of free trade, the United States of America should make a U-turn to the well-established principles of protectionism. By means of following its postulates the country can protect the domestic manufacturers, and, hereby, enhance welfare of its citizens.

Defining Protectionism

Currently, protectionism can be illustrated through the use of the following policies:
Tariffs
Import quotas
National employment and environmental legislation
The use of different bilateral and multilateral treaties
In general, the combination of the methods mentioned above produce the protectionist policies of the state.
Arguments for
Despite the growing popularity of the free trade agreements, the following arguments demonstrate that the business doctrine of protectionism should nevertheless be enacted in the United States (and possibly in the developed countries of European Union)n
Infant, but promising industries should be supported by the state. The best illustration in this regard is software industry of the USA. The efforts of the domestic developers can be virtually killed by the rapid outsourcing practices to China, India and the developing countries of the Eastern Europe.
Domestic industries should be protected in terms of their fiscal responsibility. Some foreign companies may evade paying taxes domestically. The fiscal load, therefore, lies solely on the USA-based companies. This unfair competitive advantage should be removed at all cost, otherwise, the foreign companies can become more effective on the market. It leads to unemployment and deterioration of the living standards among the USA taxpayers.
Domestic companies substantially cut their social responsibility expenditures. As a result of such practices, in order to compete with the foreign based companies, the local produces are forced to reduce their overhead expenses. Consequently, environmental, social and other important segments become underfunded.
Considering the arguments outlined above, it is reasonable to assume that the policies of protecting a domestic manufacturer should be developed and implemented in the USA.

Challenges of the assignment

The main challenge of this assignment was to overcome the argumentation advocated by the adherents of free trade concepts. In particular, their main argument is that international cooperation and lack of trade barriers lead to technology growth. However, living standards of the USA citizens may decline. The latter one is of considerably more importance for the interests of the community. Therefore, the practices of protectionism are an absolute necessity for the USA nowadays.

Research methods

In the context of this assignment, the following research methodology has been applied.
Qualitative research methods – the opinions of the leading academics found in the reputable sources have been considered. Furthermore, successful case studies (examples, illustrating the benefits of protectionism policies ) have been collected to show the advantages of this doctrine.

Quantitative research methods – interpretation of the available statistical findings has been conducted to confirm this research hypothesis.

Literature used
Badie, B., Schlosser, D. & Morlino, L. (2011). International encyclopedia of political science. Thousdand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
Barnes, T. (2004). Reading economic geography. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Cruikshank, J. (2000). The Greenspan effect words that move the world's markets. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Drahos, P. & Braithwaite, J. (2002). Information feudalism: who owns the knowledge economy. London: Earthscan.
Fulcher, J. (2004). Capitalism : a very short introduction. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press.
Krugman, Paul R. (1987). "Is Free Trade Passe?". The Journal of Economic Perspectives 1 (2): 131–144.
Magee, S.P. (1976). International Trade and Distortions In Factor Markets. New York: Marcel-Dekker.
Shutt, H. (2010). Beyond the profits system : possibilities for a post-capitalist era. Halifax Winnipeg London New York New York: Fernwood Pub. Zed Books Distributed in the USA exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan.