And Your Protectionist Madness 2023 Champion Is …

Scott Lincicome…The Jones Act.What a  ride it’s been.Cato ’sProtectionist Madness 2023 put 32 harmful U.S. trade policies in a  classic, single‐​elimination tournament to let the public decide the worst of the bunch. After seven rounds of voting, 31 matchups, and almost26,000 votes, we ’ve crowned our very first ever Protectionist Madness champion.It ’s the Jones Act, and – as we’ve discussed for years here at Cato – it couldn’t be any more deserving of this “honor.” For those of you just tuning in, here’s how the tournament page summarized the law:This 1920 law restricts the transportation of goods between domestic ports to vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, and mostly U.S.-owned and ‑crewed. Such ships are few in number (just 90 oceangoing cargo ships comply with the Jones Act) and significantly more expensive to build and crew than international ships. The results are high shipping rates within the United States, generation of more traffic and air pollution, and prevention o f effective emergency response in places such as Puerto Rico. Repealing the Jones Act could increase U.S. economic output by up to $135 billion.This blurb barely scratches the surface of the Jones Act ’s many problems but was apparently sufficient to fuel a blowout (68.7%-31.3%) in the Championship match‐​up against a very worthy rival,Buy American. To read more about the Jones Act ’s direct and indirect harms, head over toCato ’s Project on Jones Act...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs