The Path of Protection in Australia since Federation

Abstract

This paper traces the path of protection in Australia from the time of federation. It outlines the main facts of the history of industry assistance through tariff assistance and through non-tariff measures. It then examines three developments relating to the measurement of levels of assistance and their economic effects – the development of the concepts of effective protection, computable general equilibrium modelling and the Trade Restrictiveness Index. With these concepts, it re-examines trends in industry assistance in the last 40 years and offers some concluding remarks.