The Price and Welfare Consequences of the British Sugar Act of 1846 Articles uri icon

authors

  • ABSELL, CHRISTOPHER DAVID

publication date

  • March 2025

start page

  • 215

end page

  • 249

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 85

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0022-0507

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1471-6372

abstract

  • Research on trade liberalization frequently overlooks the effects on third-party welfare. This paper studies a historically tragic third-party consequence of a special case of tariff reform: the British Sugar Act of 1846. Using a new database of monthly observations of prices and import volumes for the period 1840-1853, I estimate the price and welfare effects of the passage of the Sugar Act for consumers and colonial and noncolonial producers. Considerable consumption gains for British consumers and a reduced deadweight loss were derived from the intensification of trade with the slave economies.

subjects

  • Economics
  • Politics
  • Sociology