By Charles Andrews*
The key to a capitalist economy is the state of its capital accumulation. That goes for understanding tariffs in particular.
— U.S. tariffs were successful in the late 19th century. Capital accumulation was vigorous, and tariff protection helped develop domestic industries.
— The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs certainly did not help when the boom of the 1920s had already collapsed into a deep depression. Capitalism cannot evade the law of the falling rate of profit; boom turns into bust.
