preview

Industrial Sectors Of Northern Ireland And The Republic Of Ireland

Decent Essays

An instrument in which governments use as a method to intervene in international trade and investment as mentioned earlier are tariffs. A tariff is a form of tax established on foreign goods and services, which are imported. Tariffs are generally used to restrict international trade, as they increase the price of imported goods and services which as a result, makes those commodities more expensive to consumers. Also, a tariff can be exactly like a quota, which will be discussed later, if, permitting the same import volume, the domestic output and prices are identical under the alternative trade policies (Fung, 1989). By restricting trade of imported foreign goods and services through tariffs but increasing the costs, it provides protection to domestic producers against the foreign competitors. As seen from the experience from the Irish case study of a comparison between the industrial sectors of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to examine the effects of protection on industries specialization and trade, tariffs can play a major part in an industry’s and its surrounding industries’ performance (McAleese, 1977). Governments employ the use of tariffs for many reasons; firstly, they could be protecting domestic employment because as the competition of imported goods that threaten domestic industries increase, it could cause these domestic firms to fire workers or even shift production abroad to cut costs to stay competitive. Governments can also apply a

Get Access