Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
CRANDALL
Brookings Institution
TheEffects of
U.S. TradeProtection
for Autos and Steel
271
272 Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1:1987
unit costs are equalized in the auto industry at about 150 yen to the
dollar,or very close to the dollar'svalue in early 1987.11
Because importrestraintsreducedcompetitivepressurefromabroad
andraisedindustrypricesandprofits,they also influencedindustrywage
bargains.Thissectionexaminesthe trendsin laborcosts andproductivity
duringthe 1970sand 1980s.
WAGES
1970s (table 7). Bindingprotection in the 1980s has allowed the auto-
workers to resist wage reductions more successfully than the steel-
workers and to maintaintheir premium over average manufacturing
compensationatabout55percentintheearly 1980s,orabout6percentage
points above the late 1970s premium.Ford and GeneralMotors were
forced to awardfairlygenerous settlementsin their 1984wage negotia-
tions, returninga large share of the concessions negotiatedduringthe
1981-82recession, because of theirlargequota-inducedprofits.
As these wage developments suggest, given the substantialrole of
laborcosts inbothindustries,effectivetradeprotectionsimplypostpones
part of the necessary adjustmentto the loss of competitiveness. The
steel industry today is paying for wage increases granted behind a
Robert W. Crandall 283
PRODUCTIVITY
PRODUCT QUALITY
STEEL
AUTOMOBILES