Principles of Microeconomics / Unit 16 MIC 1518 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Infant-Industry Argument
Captions available
The idea
Protect a new industry until it has skills and scale. In practice protected industries often age without competing, and protection outlasts infancy. Conditions: few industries, no widely used inputs, a clear end date.
In practice
Tie protection to exports: rise, it worked; no rise, it failed; either way it ends.
Where people slip
Payments, loans and research support do the same without taxing the industry's customers.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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