Smoot–Hawley Anniversary Serves as Reminder of Protectionism’s Damage

Bryan Riley / June 17, 2011

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. Actor and economist Ben Stein famously explained this legislation in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the classic John Hughes movie that was released 25 years ago this month:

In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the…Anyone? Anyone? The Great Depression, passed the—Anyone?  Anyone? The tariff bill?

The Hawley–Smoot Tariff Act, which—Anyone? Raised or lowered? Raised tariffs in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government.

Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects?

It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. (more…)