Tariffs In Apparel And Footwear: A Gender Approach

Abstract

The theory of tariffs is very different from the reality of tariffs. Most of the literature on protectionism is too theoretical and, more importantly, too aggregate. In practice, tariffs greatly differ among products and affect consumers differently based on their income and gender. In this paper we use a gender approach to study US tariffs on selected apparel and footwear products. The scope of this study is to examine whether gender plays a role in evaluating the cost of tariffs on consumers and to suggest policies to end a possible discriminatory conduct.