Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 18, no. 2 (Summer 2105)
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 could be the best-known piece of Congressional legislation. It also remains among the most controversial; both vilified and embraced by politicians of all stripes to further their cause, whether that be increasingly protectionist trade measures or an expansion of unencumbered free trade. Over the course of four succinct chapters, Dartmouth economics professor Douglas Irwin expertly separates the wheat from the chaff of this oft-misunderstood Act to give life to its evolution, as well as its role in deepening the Great Depression.
