Aspects of the Theory of Tariffs (Collected Works of Harry Johnson)

11.  The Theory of Content Protection*

I. INTRODUCTION

In 1960 Dean V.W. Bladen of the University of Toronto was appointed a Royal Commissioner on the Canadian Automotive Industry, and in 1961 he produced a report recommending an ‘extended content plan’ to improve the competitive situation of the industry in the Canadian and American markets. In May 1963 I published an elaborate critique of the Report and the plan. Since the objectives of the plan were eventually implemented in a substantially different form, through the Canadian-American Automotive Agreement of 1965, there is no point in republishing my detailed critique of that particular plan. However, consideration of it led me to make some general observations on the nature of content protection, ...