Beggar-thy-neighbour policies during the crisis era: causes, constraints, and lessons for maintaining open borders

Abstract

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007 governments have resorted to beggar-thy-neighbour measures. Conforming to previous historical bouts of protectionism the form of discrimination against cross-border discrimination changed. As well as documenting government attempts to tilt the playing field towards domestic firms, this paper discusses the causes and apparent constraints on contemporary protectionism and concludes with a discussion of steps that can be taken to maintain the wide variety of cross-border commercial flows seen in the twenty-first century.