Search

In 2018 and 2019, U.S. tariffs on imports from other countries rose significantly, particularly on imports from China. Although higher tariffs may raise costs for both foreign and domestic firms, recent studies suggest most of the burden fell on U.S. businesses and consumers due to higher prices and fewer imports. But tariffs do not affect all categories of goods evenly, nor do all households spend the same share of their income on tariff-affected goods. As a result, the ultimate effect of tariff increases on household spending may differ across households. Jun Nie, Alice von Ende-Becker, and Shu-Kuei X. Yang construct a tariff intensity measure to assess the uneven effects of the 2018-19 tariff increases across different types of households. They find that low-income households were more exposed to tariff increases than high-income households; younger households were more exposed than older households; Black households were more exposed than white or Asian households; and Hispanic households were more exposed than non-Hispanic households. In addition, they find that the tariff increases led to only a small shift in household spending from categories that were more exposed to tariff increases to categories that were less exposed to tariff hikes by the end of 2019., U.S. tariffs on imports from other countries rose significantly in 2018 and 2019, particularly on imports from China. The average tariff rate on imports from China increased by more than [...]

Economists often use measures of inflation--the percent change in the aggregate price level in a given period--to estimate changes in the cost of living. For example, an annual inflation rate [...]

Forecasting export growth can be challenging. Export growth depends heavily on demand from foreign countries, which is difficult to directly measure. In practice, forecasters usually approximate strength in foreign demand [...]

After declining for nearly half a century, the share of consumer spending in China's GDP has recently increased. The rising consumption share has alleviated some concerns about slowing growth in [...]

Export growth is an important source of aggregate growth in the U.S. economy. Indeed the importance of exports in contributing to U.S. economic growth has risen steadily over the past [...]

Two years after the end of the 2007-09 recession, the unemployment rate in the United States remains above 9 percent--roughly double its pre-recession level. This elevated level of unemployment has [...]

Over the last 14 months, the average price of oil has fallen by about 60 percent. Oil prices fluctuate for a number of reasons. Rising global economic activity can increase [...]

International trade is a growing share of economic activity in the United States and a determinant of economic growth. Over the last three decades, exports and imports have more than [...]