| In a sense, the new protectionism is
not protectionism at all, at least not in the traditional sense of the term. The
old protectionism referred only to trade restricting and trade expanding
devices, such as the tariff or export subsidy. The new protectionism is much
broader than this: it includes interventions into foreign trade but is not
limited to them. The new protectionism, in fact, refers to how the whole of
government intervention into the private economy affects international trade.
The emphasis on trade is still there, thus came the term "protection". But what
is new is the realization that virtually all government activities can affect
international economic relations. The emergence of the new protectionism in the
Western world reflects the victory of the interventionist, or welfare economy
over the market economy. Jab Tumiler writes, "The old protectionism…coexisted,
without any apparent intellectual difficulty with the acceptance of the market
as a national as well as an international economic distribution
mechanism—indeed, protectionists as well as (if not more than) free traders
stood for laissez faire (放任政策). Now, as in the 1930s, protectionism is an
expression of a profound skepticism as to the ability of the market to
distribute resources and incomes to societies' satisfaction." It is precisely this profound skepticism of the market economy that is responsible for the protectionism. In a market economy, economic change of various color simplies redistribution of resources and incomes. The same opinion in many communities apparently is that such redistributions often are not proper. Therefore, the government intervenes to bring about a more desired result. The victory of the welfare state is almost complete in northern Europe. In Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, government intervention in almost all aspects of economic and social life is considered normal. In Great Britain this is only somewhat less true. Government traditionally has played a very active role in economic life in France and continued to do so. Only West Germany dares to go against the tide towards excessive interventionism in Western Europe. It also happens to be the most successful Western European economy. The welfare state has made significant progress in the United States as well as in Western Europe. Social security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws, and rent control are by now traditional welfare state elements on the America scene. |