Effective protection redux

This paper rehabilitates effective protection for use in political economy. In general equilibrium, the usual definition corresponds to no economically interesting magnitude. The effective rate of protection for sector j is redefined here as the uniform tariff which is equivalent to the actual differentiated tariff structure in its effect on rents to residual claimants in sector j. It permits political economic ranking of 'how much protection' is given across sectors, since higher uniform tariffs imply higher losses of welfare sacrificed to the interest groups, Demonstrating operationality, the numerical results for the US economy for the old and new concepts are not significantly correlated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.